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Django's Gibson ES-300 Archtop
 
Picture from The Cafe Society Engagement
 Due to the efforts of
Duke Ellington in October 1946, Django made his first and only appearance in the USA,
(Oct. 1946-Jan.
1947). Ellington, who first
 met Reinhardt in
1939, was anxious to have Django return to the States with him then, but the outbreak of war
prevented this. It wasn't until seven years later that the fabulous
gypsy arrived in NYC. and performed a series of concerts as a guest
soloist with the Ellington Orchestra.
Django
with what proves to be the Gibson ES-300 and not a Gibson L5
as shown right. This would eliminate the the Epiphone Story
associated with Joe Sinacore a fellow American guitarist
Not having brought his trusty Selmer guitar from
Europe, Django was obliged to use the Gibson amplified guitar reputedly
supplied by Duke's Promoter the William Morris Agency.
Recordings made during a concert in Chicago reveal Django to be
not quite at
home with the instrument, even utilising the sustain power which the
amplified guitar possesses.
Django Reinhardt's decision to go
alone to America would have appeared to have been both ambitious and
foolhardy. Grappelli had moved on with (to him)
more acceptable musicians and had effectively resigned from QHCF other
than for recording and reunion tours. Django expectantly arrived
in the USA without his beloved Selmer or any ability to
communicate readily as a visiting Jazz celebrity and equal, either with
US musicians or Duke Ellington himself. There he
was, an illiterate French musician and completely out of his depth
(regardless of his established European reputation) and without an
instrument. Associations with Dukes guitarist Fred Guy,
contacts by Joe Sinacore, Harry Volpe, Johnny Smith and
Les Paul all failed to provide him with any direct assistance
as regards a suitable Guitar rig to play on. Guy's Swedish
Lewin, Volpe's Gretsch Synchromatic
were provided for the photo opportunities and jams but there was no
urgent clamour for Django Guitar sponsorships. The
Epiphone Zephyr offer claims by Joe Sinacore
are not substantiated by any recorded images.
Duke was on the eve of a major Tour featuring a sole
guitarist without any prepared music arrangements, supporting musicians
or even a guitar. It would appear the problem was passed to the
William Morris Agency to resolve and they must have
approached Gibson to provide an Archtop Guitar that
would be heard in association with and above the formidable output of
the Ellington Band in full flight. The solution was a
Gibson ES-300 Archtop with a hybrid experimental
amplifier and twin speaker cabinet with a suitable bandstand output.
As providers of a new instrument and amplifier they were probably
anxious to have the equipment returned post tour subject to the ensuing
promise of commercial success. Sadly Django's show slot was place
him in isolation with a repertoire of some four numbers, no integrated
arrangements and the occasional Intro or Crescendo provided by Dukes
men. The public were not ready for this strange presentation of a
Lone Guitarist placed in front of the silent
Ellington Orchestra playing loudly and alone and isolated on an
amplified gutbox in huge auditoriums - needless to say he was not well
received by the Venue managers, the Critics or the Public.
The subsequent Cafe Society Uptown residency
appearance with the clarinettist Edmond Hall Orchestra fared little
better in the cabaret atmosphere of a Noisy New York nightspot.
For recordings and appearances from 1947 through
1950, Django performed intermittently on the amplified guitar, opting at
times to use his acoustic instrument. It wasn't until 1951 that he
played an amplified instrument (the Selmer with a Stimer pickup),
using this louder voice to express his "new" ideas and repertoire in the
1950s
world of modern-jazz and small instrumental combos.
Django 'n Duke Live - Honeysuckle Rose With
Django on his Amplified guitar showing that he was still developing his
technique in this format but giving new direction to both his rhythm and
soloing delivery. Predicting in his recording the future sounds
that could be expected from the amplified jazz guitar. He may have
tried
the Gibson L5, E-150 or Epiphone Electar Amplifiers but was it the
Gibson ES-300
and
not the Epiphone Zephyr Guitar he used on the tour.
Big Band Acoustic - Place de Brouckere
Dango's Amplification in the USA
This association would suggest that Django Toured not with the claimed Epiphone Zephyr
nor the earlier Gibson L5 but with a Gibson ES-300 as the bindings, twin block
parallelogram inlays and Tailpiece are all common in this picture taken at the
Pla
Mor Ballroom in Lincoln. Note the small amplifier or pre-amp that the jack
lead runs to and the open carrying case just in shot - was this device added to
a large amplifier or speaker cabinet to raise Django's sound to compete with the orchestral volume. See the large white box amp in the Syracuse concert photo..
The striped case is also common to both Photos and may have held the pre-amp Kit.
Gibson P90 dog eared pickup fitted.
Gibson BR1-112 Combo Amplifier
 Electric
Guitar in hand for Paul Whiteman - the Gibson ES-300 present for the pose
as he has no pick. The distinctive trapeze tailpiece
on this Electric Archtop. Significantly - no Pick Guard and split parallelogram block inlays.
taken at
the Cafe Society Uptown
It now seems clear that
Django never toured the USA with an Epihone Zephyr it is more likely that the
William Morris Agency accepted the 'No Guitar' problem and approached Gibson for
a suitable instrument and a hybrid amplification system to enable Django to be
heard alongside the Duke Ellington Orchestral Volume and in Large Auditoriums.
The Solution included -
Gibson ES300 Archtop without
Pick-guard
A Large White Speaker Cabinet
A Hybrid Amplifier not an ES 150 or
a BR1-112 Combo but with a separate
pre-amp or power plug which was housed in a striped
travelling case which was always present on stage.
War-time restrictions of components and hardware forced Gibson to halt
manufacturing of electric guitars and amplifiers during World War
II. Gibson began production again in 1946, employing Chicago-based
electronic design company Barnes & Reinecke to design a
new
amplifier line. The new amps included the Ultratone BR-1, BR-3,
BR-4, BR-6 and BR-9 models, with 10 to 18 watts of power. Volume and
tone controls were featured on all models, except the smaller
BR-6
and BR-9 amplifiers. The BR amplifiers were produced until
1954 and
were discontinued to take advantage of more popular features and
newer technology.
Power Plug Preamp:
These small boxes appear to plug directly into the
endpin jack of the instrument. A volume control on the top of the box
allows one to adjust the volume, mute the output, and change
instruments or take a break without pops, hum, or noise. There is a
small gain trim control on the bottom of the box that allows the pre-amp
to be fine tuned to work with any pickup or application. There may be
two redundant power switches, one on the volume knob, and the other on
the output jack. The Power pack may have been used as a standard
volume control for a magnetic pickup as well,
Gibson
ES-300
 Electric
Guitar Django that poses with for Paul Whiteman - but with a cigarette and no pick.
It appears to be a post-war Gibson ES-300 with
original Kluson "f-hole" tailpiece.
Bound peghead with open-back tuners; dark Brazilian
rosewood board with double-parallelogram inlays within frets;1 piece
mahogany neck; single original P-90 dog ear pickup; Nicely flamed maple back and birds-eye sides;
original rosewood adjustable bridge and base; Tall gold barrel knobs w/o numerals; and the unusual
clef slotted nickel Kluson tailpiece replacing the normal Trapeze..
In late 1945 Gibson introduced the
ES-300 with a
straight P-90 pickup at the neck position, with bevelled edged
pick-guard which was not not present on Django's ES300.
ES-300, was an experimental model with several
variations reflecting Gibson's ongoing attempt to improve electric
guitar design. Because Gibson wanted to be a major player in the sales
of the electrified instruments, they required standardization in their
production, hence the development of the ES-300 and the subsequent
300
series. Many of the original ES-300's aesthetic features became
standardised in a wide array of Gibson made products over the decades
that followed. Some of these features include bound rosewood
fingerboards with double parallelogram inlays, multi-relief diamond
trapeze tailpieces, volume and tone controls, rim-mounted jack inputs,
single-bound tortoise shell celluloid pickguards, multi-bound carved
tops and backs, crown headstock inlays, and adjustable Alnico pickups.
Unfortunately, there was not enough time for this
first generation ES-300 to catch on commercially. Gibson's total
production for the ES-300 with the long diagonal pickup, offered in
sunburst and blonde, was approximately 50 units. The complete
ES-300 set
with case, cord, and EH-275 amplifier listed for $300.
Gibson ES-300 ( 1940-1953 )
The Gibson ES-300 guitar was introduced in mid 1940 as a new upgrade for
their electric guitars . The guitar shared much of its features of its
predecessor ( ES-250 ) and also had similar style hardware & features of
the Gibson L-5 & the L-12 . What made the Gibson ES-300 different from
other pre war guitars was the electronics and look of its new style
P90 pickups . Gibson made 3 versions of basically the same model with
3
different pickup variations ,
the "ES" refers to
'Electric Spanish' and is still used as the common Gibson classification
today. 'Spanish' refers to the upright placement of the instrument on
your knee: the way guitars are played today.
1946 ES-300
specs:
P-90 pickup in neck position, laminated bevelled-edge pickguard, bound
peghead and fingerboard.
 
The same Sunburst Gibson
ES-300 Guitar and a Django Painting and Django's personal wallet copy
The photograph of Django in
the hotel room was taken in New York in 1946 probably when Django was playing at
Cafe Society Uptown. The woman is the gypsy singer Sonia Dimitrivitch (I have
seen several spellings of her surname). Attached a nice quality scan and a copy
of the actual photo that Django carried in his wallet. It was found there after
he died and given to Alain Antonietto. - Since Django was in
New York during
January, 1947, it is possible this photo was actually taken in
1947 rather than
1946. From memory, there are three other photos taken at the same time. The
official version is that Sonia was modelling for one of Django's paintings (on
bed) but the Americans took a very dim view of Django having women in his hotel
room. Roger S Baxter
When Reinhardt concluded his American tour, the guitar was
returned to Gibson, which in turn, was given to
Guitarist George Barnes. Several years later, he sold the guitar to
Barry Galbraith. Barnes owned a Gibson L-5 that he later sold.
He also owned a D’Angelico that he sold to Bucky Pizzarelli for $125.00!
Barry Galbraith, an influential jazz guitarist who, in 1952,
had started using a guitar made by Elmer Stromberg of Boston
that featured a 23 1/2" scale. The shortened scale - a full two inches shorter
than that of a Gibson L-5 - allowed for wider hand stretches and complex new
chord voicings,
Barry Galbraith, 1919 - 1983, remains one of the most admired jazz guitarists of
all time. As a studio musician in the 1950's and 1960's he was in such high
demand that he left us with one of the richest collections of jazz recordings on
record, but at the same time one of the most limited, due to the fact that he
most commonly appeared as sideman only. His recording Guitar and the Wind was
apparently his only recording as leader. But, due to his excellent musicianship
in almost any venue from Dixieland to the experimental there are dozens of
examples of Barry Galbraith to listen to and learn from.
Danny
Cedrone’s solo on Bill Haley and the Comets’ 1955 hit “Rock Around the
Clock” is a jaw-dropper. Cedrone—a Philadelphia session guitarist who
used a 1946 Gibson ES-300 and a 1x12 Gibson BR-1 combo for the legendary
track—opens with a furiously picked line, then suddenly works in some
tangy half-step bends and slick, jazzy phrases, and caps it off with an
insanely fast chromatic flurry that encompasses all six strings. Cedrone
was paid $21 for the solo, and a little over two months later, died
after falling down a staircase. He never knew the impact this solo had
on the world.
Selmer Maccaferri Versus The Gibson Archtop
Django certainly took a risk laying aside his treasured acoustic guitar
for the heavier archtops. But his greatness as an artist can be witnessed in the
fact that he did not just play electric as he would acoustic but adapted his
playing style to electric amplification. Stretched notes and lightning runs in
tempo and volume as well as an exploration of the pause and the contrasts of
sweet and low on the one hand and the attack and harshness of the loud electric
sound on the other.
But by end of the
1953
electric sessions, Django was largely forgotten or more or less ignored as a
musician. When he had a booking or two, three weeks at the Ringside, the future
Blue Note, he didn’t draw much of a crowd. Some fellow musicians had even the
audacity to say that Django was past it, if not finished. It was
Eddie Barclay
who convinced him to return to Paris to record. In a bust of pride, Django
accepted and plugged in the electric guitar with some top notch friend musicians
accompanying him. He turned into an unparalleled soloist playing definitive
versions of “Nuages”, “Manoir de mes rêves” and “Brazil” among many others.
Nevertheless, from the
sleeve notes of the “Peche à la Mouche” album, Pierre Michelot writes of the
reception of this album: “Django intended to give his own answer to everyone who
thought he was over the hill. He was bringing everyone up to date, but nobody
could be bothered to look up at the calendar year.”
When Django turned electric and was ignored by the audience, somebody should
have had the guts to say one word back to the former era loving crowds and fans:
Judas!
Django in Nice with a
Gibson L-5 and an Epiphone Electar Amplifier
with Challain Ferret
Amplifiers of the day were just as basic as the early electric
guitars, if not more so. The EH-150 had in fact arrived before the
ES-150
guitar, as partner to Gibson’s EH-150 lap-steel guitar (these were actually
Gibson’s first genuine electric guitars, and the amplifier retained the lap
steel’s “Electric Hawaiian” designation). The EH-150 originally carried a single
10" speaker (later a single 12") and was powered by a truly archaic circuit
design, and now-obsolete preamp and power tubes, but it was an impressive beast
for the mid ’30s. Even when the circuit had evolved a few years later to employ
6L6 output tubes, the amp still only produced around 15 watts at best, but that
15 watts sounded pretty darn loud next to any acoustic-only rhythm guitarist
hacking away in the rhythm section, so these amps were enough to unleash the
guitarist as soloist on the big-band stages of the day.
Charlie Christian to Gibson ES-150 guitar to
Gibson
EH-150 amplifier … to history. It’s a humble rig by the standards of
today’s electric guitarists have it to thank for proving what this
instrument, and a great player could do.
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PAUL
VERNON CHESTER
