PAUL VERNON CHESTER

Manouche Maestro

The Nouveau Quintette

Evolution of the Original Quintette

With the outbreak of war in 1939 Reinhardt made his way back from England to France, leaving Grappelli in Britain. 

Django spent the first winter of the war playing in Jimmy's Bar in Montparnasse; but in spring 1940 the German blitzkrieg led to the speedy fall of France. He fled the city when the Germans occupied Paris on June 14th, but returned after the French surrender left northern France under occupation. …

Django was considering reforming some kind of quintet. He had hoped right up until May 1940 for Grapelli’s return, but Stephane had decided to remain in England.

Django realized that such a project would require organizational skill that he himself did not possess. His first thought of getting Michel Warlop to help in this project, but of course he was otherwise committed. Georges Efrossé, then playing with Django’s friend Sarrane Ferret who was also a first class violinist – or was the obvious answer to form a new style of quintet?

Django eventually decided to install the clarinet of Hubert Rostaing in place of the violin. Regrettably, this new quintet did not last long. Django decided, as he was pretty much a star in his own right, that freelancing was for him the best bet.

There was no point trying to replace Stephane Grappelli, so Reinhardt instead utilized Hubert Rostaing, a technically skilled and advanced clarinettist who also doubled on tenor sax. 

Rostaing would play with Django on and off through to 1948.  And instead of having three guitars as before, Reinhardt cut back to two (using his brother Joseph Reinhardt) and added drummer Pierre Fouad.

The New Quintet in concert circa 1941 Hubert Rostaing, Eugène Vées, Django, André Jourdan, Francis Lucas

At first the group was also known as the Quintet of the Hot Club of France.  Its debut, Rhythm futur, is a piece that lives up to its futuristic name, at least harmonically.  It is clear from the start that Rostaing’s impressive technique and sound (sometimes hinting at Artie Shaw) works well with the guitarist.  The session also includes the minor-toned Blues.

The New Quintette with Josette Dayde - Coucou

The same group with a change in bassists and several guest appearances by Alix Combelle on clarinet and tenor, recorded thirteen selections on 13 and 17 December 1940. Combelle, who had sounded quite impressive on a famous 1937 four-saxophone date with Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter and Andre Ekyan, was an underrated clarinettist and a tenor with a big tone influenced by Hawkins.  Swing 41 really benefits from the inclusion of the two clarinets who blend together very well.  The clarinets take a mysterious introduction to a remake of Reinhardt’s most famous original, the haunting ballad Nuages.

Django's Music

Guitarists are one thing; there are also 'the horns' (trumpeters, especially) who’ve emulated his lines, pianists who dig his harmonics, drummers who seek to recapitulate that inimical Euro-swing beat. There are also the dancers, artists, writers, filmmakers. Django is not by accident the exemplar of a mood, a look, a feel of cosmopolitan Europe in the years surrounding World War II. To listen to Django is to hear the sound of music that was almost wiped off the Earth forever. It is the sound of love, lust, friendship and the greatest of common human value. In the end, it is the sound of victory.  1947 was the year that Django, fascinated with bebop and intrigued by the technical achievements of Charlie Christian, Les Paul and the great Basie-ite Freddie Green, made his first recordings on electric guitar.

This aspect of his output has, understandably, got less attention than the indispensable work he did in his first recorded decade, but a good listen will be very rewarding for any jazz fan. All of the qualities that make him an icon to acoustic players, from his deft touch and innovative phrasings to his choice of material and sidemen, are amplified, literally, with the addition of electricity. Unlike in the older recordings, where Django’s lead lines blend in with two rhythm guitars, bass and violin or clarinet, electrification sets him firmly out front. The contrast helps to deepen his group’s harmonics, reaching to the near edge of counterpoint. We can only guess what this group, which knocked off seven 78s for Blue Star Records in just two days, could have accomplished in the LP format. The year began normally enough, with a session for 12-piece band on April 16 (a date that needs something positive associated with it), followed immediately by four tracks with an acoustic quintet. The core of the electric output was recorded in two sessions on July 6 and July 18. Besides Django, the two sidemen to record in both quintet sessions were clarinettist Hubert Rostaing and drummer Andre Jourdan, each of whom are crucial figures in Djangology. Three tracks in particular “Blues For Barclay,” “Vette” and “Swing 48” are like a manifesto of this new intent. For the first time, the addition of drums to his small group brings both power and swing in ample supply. Hearing these tracks their percussion game was a major revelation. The opening break on “Vette” might be the best seven seconds of brushwork ever recorded, and his solo on “Swing 48” somehow bridges the entire jazz drumming tradition that existed to that point, without ever betraying pastiche. Clearly, Jourdan, Jean-Louis Viale, Al Craig and Ted Curry owned a lot of records!

The drummers brought Django’s silken muscularity to the fore. Never had his lines sounded so frontal. Given his infamous initial reaction to the work of Charlie Parker, one wishes there were living record of Parker hearing this stuff. The idea of the two in collaboration constitutes the very definition of “fantasy booking.” I can imagine either Django’s guitar in the piano spot of Parker’s ’47 group (with Miles Davis, Curley Russell and Roy Haynes) or Parker in Rostaing’s spot. It’s certainly a shame that the two weren’t acquainted in the early ‘50s— they might have saved each other’s lives!

The specific tracks cited above should be now available in more savoury forms. Verve reissued a bunch of the electric ’47-’53 materials as the double-disc Peche a la Mouche,  The electrified Django really needs to be anthologised in some definitive way.

Django Reinhardt continued to interface with electric guitar until his death six years later; the definitive version of “Brazil” was recorded weeks before a stroke, at 43. He died disillusioned and unsure if he’d even be remembered, not knowing his legacy was already secure. Django’s story is compelling in so many ways, its passions and politics, its sheer human interest value, the force of the man’s personality, but at the core is the master of a particular approach, one whose resonance has only been enhanced by time. Unfortunately, he died before his public caught up with him fully.

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Last modified: 13/09/2011