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PAUL VERNON CHESTER

Manouche Maestro

Johnny 'n Django

 

 

 

 

 

Johnny Smith Remembers Django

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"A funny thing happened with Django. He was staying at the Hudson Hotel in Manhattan, and I would go up in the afternoon and we'd mess around together, or maybe I'd take him round the city. At this time Les Paul was at the Paramount Theatre so Django and I went down there to visit him in the afternoon. After that, Django invited me to join him at this club where he was working, the Cafe Society, (up town) and a real hoity-toity place. I didn't even have on a tie and he hadn't shaved, and I didn't want to go in but he insisted - I had to be his guest for dinner. So we go into this restaurant and the place was full of people in dinner clothes and looking immaculate. They put us at a table way over in the corner - I guess to get us out of the way. So we sat there and all of a sudden Django picked up his knife and started banging on the table. People started looking around because by now dishes were falling off the table, and waiters ran over to try to quieten him down. They spoke French, so finally we found out the reason for the commotion: he was insulted because all the other tables had a little glass vase with a flower in it and our table didn't.   He just tore up the joint because - that was an insult!
We played together, but really, I was just listening because I'd heard him on record and I idolised this man from when I was younger. I'd save up my nickels and as soon as a new record came out I'd be right there. I used to play along with his solos and on the old record player they wouldn't last long and I'd wear them out, so I kept having to get new ones of the old ones too. He really made me realise that the guitar was a musical instrument and not just something to scrape on.

But I never heard him in his true surroundings, which would have been a French night club, and I'm sure he would have been better there than on record. I think Django was not comfortable in America with the people he was working with - it was all organised quickly. He played beautifully, but I'm sure that wasn't the true Django.

A short while ago I had a letter from Don Gibson, with whom I've done a couple of records. With the letter was a big newspaper write-up about how he had purchased Django's guitar and now he owns that Maccaferri guitar that Django used - all authenticated - and it's a really outstanding guitar."

Hommage a Reinhardt
Within all of us there lies a universal love and appreciation for the true artist. Django Reinhardt was an artist in every sense of the word, not only as a musician, but as a person. Being fortunate enough to have known him personally, I am very grateful for this opportunity to express my feelings for the father of the jazz guitar -- and I have always called Django just that.  I speak of Django as an artist not only for his contributions as a guitarist, but also for his creative talent, as these improvisations will bear out. He was a romanticist, which I believe to be the propulsion for all artistic creativity and in his sometimes light, sometimes forcefully expressive guitar performances, I'm sure you'll find this quality foremost. 

I have yet to meet one guitarist who has not been, at least to some degree, influenced by him. True, styles change as well as personalities; there is always new music to play and there are new stars to play it. But one thing never loses it place, appeal and value: a mind that remains young and fresh, ever seeking new ideas while adhering to those of proven value. This is a true indication of an artist; hence our Armstrongs, the Dorseys, Basies and Kentons, to mention but a few at random.  I will speak only in passing of Django's handicap of having two immovable fingers on his left hand. It was of no importance whatsoever to this man, as he, in his own way, always managed to execute cleanly and beautifully any musical thoughts that came to his mind. I might add that this is what we all strive to do, no matter what we have to do it with, or on. 

One of my most vivid recollections and a thrill I shall never forget, was the first time I heard a recording by Django Reinhardt. It was an inspiration as well as a challenge, for then and there I knew what the guitar could really mean as a solo jazz instrument. Consequently, I felt as though Django was my next door neighbour, although he spent practically all of his professional life in Europe. When I met him in New York in 1946, even though we did not speak the same language, I regarded him simply as my brother. If only all peoples of the world would learn to judge each other on merit alone, as musicians do, we we would surly attain the goals we so endlessly strive for.   Django Reinhardt will always remain one of my most cherished memories, and, as true artistry has universal appeal, I know that you will enjoy listening to him as much as I have.   Johnny Smith, Winner, Solo Guitar Division, Metronome and Down Beat polls, 1955

1950 Epiphone Emperor Concert

During the Big Band era of the forties, the Epiphone archtops were considered by professionals to be the loudest percussive acoustic guitars, capable of rhythms rivalling the neighbouring horn section. Epiphone rarely made custom instruments and instead was known as a production-oriented company. Designed by Johnny Smith, the 1950 Epiphone Emperor Concert has an unusual trapezoid sound hole which makes it a powerfully smooth solo instrument. Johnny Smith prevailed on Epiphone to alter the standard Emperor model with three modifications: the trapezoid sound hole replaced the f-hole design; the parallel bracing pattern was widened in the lower bout; and the top was carved more thinly around the sound hole. This 18 ½", heavily bound, voluminous beauty has a carved spruce top with maple back and sides. Outfitted with an elegant gold Frequensator tailpiece, 7-ply neck and steel adjustable truss rod, the Concert has the volume of an Epiphone and the tone of a D'Angelico and was used for vocal accompaniment to play classical and jazz melodies

Johnny Smith Guitarist Johnny Smith's career spans the decades of the 1940's through the 1990's. From the very beginning of his musical career he influenced the playing of other guitarists. In fact, other guitarists mention Smith almost as often as they mention Charlie Christian as a major influence on their playing. And today, in the late 1990's players still feel and respond to the influence of Johnny Smith. In the preface to Steve Silverman's 1998 transcriptions of Johnny Smith Guitar Solos he acknowledges that Johnny Smith has been "a source" of inspiration and influence on guitarists as diverse as Pat Martino and Chet Atkins.
Even before he hit the New York jazz scene in the late 1940's Johnny Smith was setting an example of great musicianship and brilliant jazz guitar playing. There is a story that Lou Mecca tells about his first meeting with Johnny Smith when Smith was playing trumpet in the army band. This story, told to Just Jazz Guitar Magazine, May 1995, exemplifies the influence Johnny Smith has had on other guitar players. Mecca visited Johnny in the barracks at Valley Forge, VA in the late 1940's. Their discussion immediately went to guitars and Johnny offered his guitar to Mecca and asked him to play something. Lou Mecca played something he knew and Johnny said he liked it. Then Johnny proceeded to play several startling pieces including Rhapsody In Blue. Mecca ends this memory by commenting, "I then realized I was in the presence of one of the greatest guitarists of all time ... ".

Like most of the great jazz guitarists, Johnny Smith started out as an excellent musician first. When he arrived in New York in the late 1940's he moved as easily on to 52nd Street as he did into playing with the philharmonic. He took up a staff position with NBC and it was while there that he recorded Moonlight in Vermont with Stan Getz. This recording established Johnny Smith as a major talent and in a flurry of recording activity he produced some of the most important recordings in jazz guitar history.

During his tenure at Roost Records, under the auspices of Teddy Reig, he produced a long list of significant recordings that include the great quartet recordings The Johnny Smith Quartet, and The Sound of The Johnny Smith Guitar among others. Also, during this period he made the Man With The Blue Guitar. This album, unusual for its time, has probably been transcribed more than any other Johnny Smith recording. Then there was the Johnny Richards production Annotations of The Muses, on which Johnny Smith displays everything that made him a great musician and an extraordinary guitar player.   Johnny Smith retired from the jazz scene in the 1960's to Colorado where he opened a music store. He continued to play in local nightclubs and made a recording with some local musicians (Reminiscing) that showed he had lost none of the signature Johnny Smith style or technique. His last published recorded work was the Concord Records CD Legends, in 1994. This last recording like The Man With The Blue Guitar is made up of solo guitar pieces that capture the essence of the Johnny Smith guitar.

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Last modified: 13/09/2011