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Django and Chet Atkins -
Finger Pickin' Good!
 CHET ATKINS
The first time
I ever heard Django was after I got a job professionally in Knoxville,
Tennessee. I was working as staff guitarist with a group called The Dixieland
Swingsters, and the trumpet player in the group started telling me about Django
Reinhardt and also at the same time about Charlie Christian, who I had never
heard. He got some old 78 records of Django out of the library and played them,
and I was impressed, but at that time I wasn't far enough along, I guess, to
really appreciate it. I was just learning to play myself; I was about seventeen
or eighteen years old. Later on when I had a little more knowledge of the
guitar, I went out and bought a lot of his albums and started copying some of
the things he did. And, of course, at the same time I was hearing Les Paul who
was one of Django's "students". After a while I got so I really admired his
technique. Then there were all the stories, of course, of his problem with
having only two fingers. In 1946, I was up in Chicago without a job, and he
played there with Duke Ellington, at the Civic Opera House. Well, I got a ticket and
went down. I was in the back seats, so I couldn't see very well. But he played
with Duke and played a great concert. I went backstage and hung around; and he
finally came out, and I stuck a piece of paper up in front of him. He felt
around and said, "You have penceel?" I said, "Sure," so I gave him a pencil, and
he wrote "D. Reinhardt." And he smiled, and I smiled back, and there was a
soldier there that kept asking, "Django, you remember me? I was in that joint
one night in Paris, and we played guitar together." He said, "Yes, yes" he
seemed like a really nice guy.
Anyway, I wanted to play some for him,
because I didn't think that he would have ever heard any finger guitar like I
play because me and
Merle
Travis at that time, were the only ones doing it. But
I didn't get a chance to do that in the melee
Merle
Travis on Chet Atkins
Civic Opera House Chicago
The world-renowned Lyric Opera of
Chicago performs in one of North America's most beautiful opera houses, the
Civic Opera House, at 20 North Wacker Drive. The opera house was the vision of
utility magnate Samuel Insull who wanted to erect a new opera house as the home
of the Chicago Civic Opera--one that would be democratic in scope, and would be
housed in and supported by a commercial office building. He mandated five
requisites for the new opera house: safety, excellent sight lines, comfortable
seating, gracious surroundings, and premium acoustics.
From its opening on Nov. 4, 1929 (just six days after the stock-market crash)
until Lyric Opera of Chicago was founded in 1954 (as Lyric Theatre), the Civic
Opera House was home to the Chicago Civic Opera, Chicago Grand Opera Company,
Chicago City Opera Company and Chicago Opera Company. Over the years the Civic
Opera House has also hosted visiting opera and dance companies, as well as
touring operettas, musical shows, and a great number of orchestral, dance, and
vocal concerts. The adjoining Civic Theatre, at the north end of the block-long
building, was used to present plays (including the premiere of Tennessee
Williams' The Glass Menagerie), dance performances, and films. For a
considerable time it also served as a television studio. The Civic Opera
Building is a majestic limestone skyscraper with a 45-story office tower and two
22-story wings. Shaped like a gigantic throne facing the Chicago River between
Washington and Madison streets, it was completed after just 22 months of
planning and construction. The Civic Opera House seats 3,563.
 The Civic
Opera House, conveniently situated in the heart of downtown Chicago, is at 20
North Wacker Drive and has been the home of the Lyric Opera of Chicago. A visit
to the downtown area puts this splendid venue right at your disposal and is a
must-visit house for taking in a show. Many Broadway shows have played at the
Civic Opera House including The Phantom of the Opera. A delightful combination
of art deco and art nouveau, many visitors regard the Civic Opera House as one
of the most beautiful houses in the United States. Musical talents such as
Duke and Django have graced audiences with their talents and delighted attendees
thanks to the Civic Opera House's premium acoustics, luxurious seating and
surroundings and top notch sight lines to the stage from all areas of the
auditorium.
Duke Ellington, and His Orchestra;
and (in what may be the best
surprise) the appearance of then visiting super guitarist Django Reinhardt on
three numbers. Including Improvisation 3,
Honeysuckle Rose. - all secretly recorded by Dr John Steiner it includes
Django's 4 bar solo. Recorded at the Civic Opera House, Chicago, Nov. 10,
1946.
NN:
Django Music, in: Time, 18.Nov.1946 (F: Django Reinhardt & Duke Ellington) [vert.file:
Django REINHARDT]
NN: Jazz
by Django, in Newsweek, 18.Nov.1946 (F: Django Reinhardt & Duke Ellington) [vert.file:
Django REINHARDT]
 Chet-
Then later on I was talking to Duke Ellington in
Denver, and I asked him what happened to Django.
He said Django went back to
Paris, because somebody at the William Morris Agency had beat him playing
billiards, and he got mad and left. I think Django considered himself to be a
great billiards player, and he couldn't stand getting beaten like that. Years
later I recorded a tune of Django's, "Manoir de mes Reves" [Nashville Gold,
RCA Camden, CAS2555]. I think literally translated it means "Castle Of My
Dreams." But I called it "Django's Castle," and a bunch of jazz people picked it
up and recorded it under that title. Also because of that, Gene Goodman, a
publisher, put it out with some other Django tunes [A Treasury Of Django
Reinhardt Solos, Jewel Music Publishing Co., 110 East 59th St., New
York, NY 100221]. So I like to think that maybe indirectly I helped his widow a
little by getting that folio out.
I still admire Django very much, and I listen
to him like I do Bix Beiderbecke. You can listen to Django and imagine a modern
rhythm section with him and really tell what a great player he was. Django
taught the World
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PAUL
VERNON CHESTER