Django in Toronto

Following the war, Django toured in North America with Duke Ellington. One 'Classic Jazz Society of Toronto' enthusiast, George Foley, saw Django at the old Mutual Street Arena in 1946, where he fronted the Ellington band. As George remembers, he looked distinguished in a white dinner jacket and played a short set that gave Torontonians their first live and unforgettable taste of gypsy swing.

I was amazed to learn that during his 1946 US tour with Duke Ellington, Django actually played in Toronto at the old Mutual Street Arena

Django certainly played Toronto and perhaps also the town of Kitchener within Dukes Canadian Engagements and it begs the question as to how famous Django may have been in the French speaking province of Quebec.  Charles De Gaulle had considered retiring there if he failed to win the French support post war in exile. 

Kitchener Memorial Auditorium

I was thrilled to find a great deal of information recently on your site regarding Django's North American tour with Duke Ellington in 1946.  I live on the edge of Kitchener Ontario (Canada), which was one of the two Canadian cities in which Duke Ellington's Orchestra performed during that tour. The Kitchener date was at the Auditorium Gardens on Queen Street East on November 5, 1946. The show (dance) went from 9:00 - 1:00 and tickets were $1.25. Kitchener is about 100 km from Toronto, which was where the second Canadian performance took place, the next day, before the band returned to the USA.  I found it very interesting to read the quote on Paul's website from a Toronto jazz enthusiast, George Foley, who said he saw Django perform with the Duke Ellington Orchestra at the old Mutual Street Arena in Toronto on November 6,1946. That is not consistent with what I have always understood, so I decided to do some more research. In 1966, my father wrote a letter to Patrick Scott, who was the City Editor of the Toronto newspaper, the Globe and Mail, to ask Mr. Scott if he saw Django when the band came to Toronto. Mr. Scott, who was at the same concert as Mr. Foley, wrote back to my father and said that he stood right next to Django and watched the Ellington Band play, but Django didn't perform due to "some union red tape". I have a copy of that letter. Until now, I never realized the other date was right here in my home town, so I have spent a few hours in the local libraries trying to find out more about both dates. I have found the advertisements for both of the Canadian concerts as well as reviews of both concerts in the old archives from two newspapers. Unfortunately, Django wasn't mentioned in either the ads or the reviews.  I have always assumed that Django didn't perform in Toronto, based on the letter my father gave me. Mr. Foley's account makes me wonder what really took place, but I have to think that Patrick Scott would have been correct, because he was a journalist and was very clear in his account of the events in his letter, which was written only 20 years after the concert. I wish I could find out more about Django's stop here in Kitchener, but I haven't been able to come up with any more than these ads and newspaper articles, which provided no information about Django. I will keep on searching. If anyone has any additional information about Django's short visit to Canada, I would love to hear about it. - Keith Murch

Having read Keiths newspaper cuttings it is also true to state that within the reviews there is no mention of individual members of the Ellington Band so Django's presence remains a mystery.

I think that both claims can be true: Django only played in Ellington Concerts but not when Duke was playing for dance events. Dregni in his book on Django indicates that the band played for dance at Toronto's Mutual Street Arena. So the Canadian Concert should have been Django's second concert with Ellington after Cleveland.  There is the same situation (concert one day and dance the other day) in that tour when Django played at the Pla-Mor - Spatzo

Many of Django's failings in his American Dream were due to him being alone and unaccompanied by his long associated European Musicians and being illiterate, unable to read Music or discuss musical Key's or communicate with his audiences and generally make himself more understood to his fellow musicians and sponsor.  Ellington had expected the full Hot Club Quintette and Django as sole representative posed a problem with supporting arrangements and integration of his style within a full swing band ensemble.  Django's isolated set was confined to short a medley of about 4 numbers punctuated by the odd band Intro, Riff and Crescendo.  The Audience and Promoters may have been confused as why they were being exposed to this unfamiliar soloist musician (who was struggling to master his acquired Gibson ES-300 and hybrid amplifier).  There was no full arrangements featuring the Ellington All Stars. What would have happened if Django had been able to address a French speaking audience directly in Quebec or Montreal.  There were many guitarists of different levels of prowess already established throughout America and more familiar with the required balance and control of their new amplified archtop guitar instruments within a big band.  A solitary man with a Gutbox and very little advance publicity would have a major problem holding down the attention of a large audience even when billed alongside the Ellington Band as The Worlds Greatest Guitarist but lacking his favourite Maccaferri instrument.  Without a fully crafted stage presence Django also had the same difficulties in the more intimate cabaret gigs like the Cafe Society (Uptown) in NYC where the American audiences expected announcements, humour and anecdotes between the musical interruptions to their constant noisy drinking and table babble. 

PÊCHE À LA MOUCHE - Django Reinhardt - Fly Fishing

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Echoes of Django - 60 Years On - French Canada