Django on Film

Reinhardt has been portrayed in several films, such as in the opening sequence of the 2003 animated film Les Triplettes de Belleville. The third and fourth fingers of the cartoon Reinhardt are considerably smaller than the fingers used to play the guitar. Reinhardt's legacy dominates in Woody Allen's 1999 Sweet and Lowdown. This spoof biopic focuses on fictional American guitarist Emmet Ray's obsession with Reinhardt, with soundtrack featuring Howard Alden. He is also portrayed by guitarist John Jorgenson in the movie Head in the Clouds. In the Italian western Django, the title character is presumably named after Reinhardt. In the climax of the movie, his hands are smashed by his enemies and he is forced to fire a gun with his wounded hands. Reinhardt is also the idol of the character Arvid in the movie Swing Kids, where the character's left hand is smashed by a member of the Hitler Jugend, but is inspired by Reinhardt's example to keep playing.

.....................................................so little visual record of one man revered by so many

A comedic biopic focused on the life of fictional jazz guitarist Emmet Ray. Ray was an irresponsible, free-spending, arrogant, obnoxious, alcohol-abusing, miserable human being, who was also arguably the best guitarist in the world. We follow Ray's life: bouts of getting drunk, his bizarre hobbies of shooting rats and watching passing trains, his dreams of fame and fortune, his strange obsession with the better-known guitarist Django Reinhardt, and of course, playing his beautiful music. The Guitarist who dubbed and taught Sean Penn was Howard Alden

Howard Alden was restricted to a 6 string for the recording of the S & L Soundtrack and he really missed that extra string while laying down the tracks.

That has now been overtaken for the future thanks to flexibility of manufacture at Manouche Guitars

Howard Alden - Guitarist Howard Alden guitar solos from the Woody Allen film "Sweet and Low Down" based on fictional Emmett Ray's life in the 30's:

Soundtrack

1. I'll See You in My Dreams
2. I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles
3. Limehouse Blues
4. Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams
5. Just a Gigolo
6. Sweet Georgia Brown
7. Unfaithful Woman
8. "E" is for Emmet
9. Shine
10. 12th Street Rag
10. 3:00 AM Blues
11. It Don't Mean a Thing (if it Ain't Got That Swing)
12. Old Fashioned Love

The guitar playing in the movie is actually by Howard Alden. You will want to own the soundtrack. Alden taught Sean Penn to play the guitar, in lessons so successful that Allen's camera never has to cheat: We hear Emmet Ray and we see Emmett Ray's fingers, and there is never reason to doubt that Penn is actually playing the guitar.
Howard Alden belongs to a small, elite group of the very best jazz guitarists in the world." -- Johnny Smith

Howard Alden - See you in my Dreams

The Script Biography of Emmet Ray
If you are a student of jazz history, you are aware that Emmet Ray -- the subject of Woody Allens "Sweet and Lowdown" -- really existed. And not only did he exist, Emmet resembled many of the jazz musicians of the 1940s. At one point in his career he lived off the money earned by a couple of prostitutes, a practice not unheard of in jazz circles beginning with Buddy Bolden and Jelly Roll Morton. However, these jazz musicians prefer the term "manager" to the phrase pimp. Like many jazz legends, Emmet was an anti-hero, but his guitar playing -- makes up for his multitude of sins.

Emmet was also a traveller who not only toured America but has played extensively in Europe. The guitarist lived at a time when jazzmen first traversed the country, spreading consciousness of jazz even to American audiences who were beyond the modest reach of radio and recordings. This original American art form not only spread across the country but to Europe in the 20s and 30s. The way was paved by such men as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington who were welcomed enthusiastically when they appeared on the other side of the Atlantic Armstrong in 1932 and Ellington in 1933.

The audience for these giant talents included foreign musicians who modelled themselves after the American originators. Many Europeans played on a high level but only one became a major influence on American jazzmen -- the gypsy guitarist, Django Reinhardt.

In Paris, Reinhardt and violinist Stephan Grappelli founded the Quintet of the Hot Club of France in 1934. Bringing his romantic, bittersweet gypsy ethos to the American jazz with which he had fallen in love, Django created an original sound and style.

Though little is known about the life of Emmet Ray (few photographs and recordings exist today), the Woody Allen film attempted quite enthusiastically to capture the spirit of Emmet Ray -- and that of the crazy world of jazz -- on celluloid forever.

The captivating music of Django invokes nostalgia for the period and has been featured in many films by Woody Allen and of course - Chocolat - Directed by Lasse Halström and yet more bizarrely - Matrix

Mail jazzmaster@jazzeddie.f2s.com with questions or comments about the format of this web site. Last modified: 27/02/2010

Mail jazzmaster@jazzeddie.f2s.com with questions or comments about the format of this web site.
Last modified: 27/02/2010