Feb. 14, five CDs.
With this collection, our survey of Django Reinhardt's enormous output
is practically complete. The period covered here includes much of his
work with American musicians and the early years of the war, a time
during which Django was more popular in France and Belgium than at any
other time in his life. Parted from Stephane Grappelly by the outbreak
of war, he played with the leading French bands of the day and became a
leader himself, if only for recording purposes. The Rythme sides,
recorded under great difficulties in occupied Brussels, show us a Django
at the peak of his renown and revelling in his incomparable technique
the double-time chorus in Django Rag is almost incredible in its speed
and delicacy.
The end of the war would bring new challenges - an
American tour, the decline in the popularity of jazz, the advance of
bop - and it would take him some time to comprehend the new developments
taking place in 52nd Street.
But here he is in his pomp, playing as though his life depended on it - which at times it did.
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