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PAUL VERNON CHESTER
Manouche Maestro
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Django 'n Duke
A dark part of Django's character was revealed when it was learned that Ellington invited Grappelli to tour America as well, but Django didn't tell him… from the different accounts, it looks as if Ellington invited the entire band, but Django basically accepted the invitation for himself. Emile Savitry, an amateur guitarist, painter, and all-around bohemian. Savitry heard Django and his brother play in Toulon in the south of France, was impressed by their music, and invited them up to his apartment to play some new American jazz recordings, including some by Duke Ellington, Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang, as well as Indian Cradle Song by Louis Armstrong. According to Savitry's account, Django heard this and broke down, holding his head in his hands and exclaiming in the Romani language, "Ach moune," which means, "My brother." While it is an exclamation, in this case it had a secondary, ironic meaning. "Right away, he understood Armstrong. Right away, he preferred Armstrong's formidable playing over the erudite technique of the orchestra of Duke Ellington. Guided by an instinct of astounding precision, he was able to judge these musicians, almost instantly." "Django's playing gave sound to the spirit of Jazz Age Paris. His lines of acoustic guitar notes were pure rapture, effervescent and evanescent, floating away with an unbearable lightness and transience of the moment, their fleeting beauty almost unbelievable. The genius of all his future music was in embryo in that one solo on Dinah." At the conclusion of the first recording of "Dinah," Django was so thrilled with his improvisations that he bumped his guitar against his chair as he finished his song, and this ugly noise was recorded, which appears at the end of the piece. The engineers wanted to throw the whole thing out and start over, but the Hot Club impresarios were quite happy with the improvisation-which was what mattered most to them-and convinced the engineers to keep this recording that eventually became so famous. Django Reinhardt, the legendary French jazz guitarist of the 1930s and 1940s, came to the United States only once. He played his first U.S. concert in Cleveland. It was Monday night, November 4, 1946, at the Music Hall at East 6th and St. Clair. The headline in the Plain Dealer the next morning said, "French Guitar Artist Steals Duke's Concert."
On the train trip from New York to Cleveland, Django shared a two-berth compartment with Ellington. The other members of the Ellington band were in a sleeping car. As they were getting ready for bed, Django was astounded to notice that the band members were wearing underpants with floral designs. In his limited English, he said, "You're crazy!" When he returned to the private compartment, he was about to joke with Ellington about it when he noticed Duke's underpants were even more gaudy than his musicians.' Later, Reinhardt asked some French friends to buy him some flowered pants.
Reinhardt had only one brief rehearsal with Ellington before their concert in Cleveland. It was little more than a 20-minute "warm up" on the stage of the Music Hall. Duke, at the piano, asked Django, "What key do you want?" "Any key," said Django. Duke tapped his foot and the two all-time jazz masters just started playing. There was no musical conflict. "At the start of the tour after Django and Ellington's very first rehearsal of their very first song, Sonny Greer's ear was caught by Django's playing. Stunned by the music, his response was succinct: 'Well, fuck my britches!'" There had been very little advance publicity for the historic concert in Cleveland. There was only a small ad in the local papers that simply announced, "Elroy Willis presents Duke Ellington and his Orchestra at the Music Hall." There was no mention in the ad that Django Reinhardt would also be appearing. Milt Widder wrote the next day, "How the advent of Django Reinhardt escaped the local promoters is a mystery." Ticket prices for the concert ranged from $3.60 to $1.25. The Plain Dealer reported that 1,800 people attended the Monday night concert at the Music Hall. But they had to wait for the music to begin. A baggage car, carrying the Ellington Orchestra instruments, arrived late, and the concert was delayed for about 45 minutes, to about 9:15. But Glenn Pullen, writing in The Plain Dealer, said, "The faithful followers of the popular composer-bandmaster did not seem to mind the long wait. They were offered extra compensation in the form of Django Reinhardt, the noted French guitarist." Pullen said Django's first American performance soundly substantiated his reputation. Wrote the reviewer: "In the hands of this virtuoso, who resembles the screen's Adolph Menjou, an electric guitar acquires richer, magical qualities. His digital dexterity was remarkable, in intricate chords that were executed with such technical brilliance that the band musicians kept shouting, `Go to it, master!'" Reinhardt played improvisations of "Tiger Rag," "Blues in E Flat," and a tune which even Ellington admitted on stage he was unable to identify. Milt Widder wrote in The Press, "Duke Ellington came to Cleveland without fanfare and he gave his fans here the greatest treat in the annals of local jazz when he introduced in this country, for the first time, the hottest guitar player in the world." After the concert in Cleveland, Reinhardt travelled with the Ellington Orchestra to Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, and finally New York City where they played two nights (November 23 and 24) at Carnegie Hall.
Django rarely if ever played a solo the same way twice. Numerous recordings prove this to be true. His creative genius was not only that of the master improviser, but also that of the composer, and he can be credited with numerous pieces with beautiful melodies and sophisticated, subtle harmonic structures. However, Django could not read or write musical notation and he was at the mercy of others that could to get his ideas down on paper. Dates included Cleveland, Ohio, Civic Opera House Chicago (Nov 10th 1946), Aquarium NYC, Carnegie Hall NYC Django's first biography, called the American tour a failure. He had his reasons for calling it that, partly because he was left out of organizing it and being part of it, but also because it was such a bittersweet experience for Django. While on the one hand he had great success with Ellington's orchestra, on the other he had these naïve dreams of becoming a movie star and of recording with all the different American jazz stars-dreams that didn't come true during the three months he was in the United States.
Alas this would appear to be a 2 sided compilation and not a joint recording - did Django and Duke ever make a recording - ? Yes They Did!
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