PAUL
VERNON CHESTER
Manouche Maestro
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Manouche Maestro |
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Gypsy
Jazz -
Like thousands of other kids I was caught up in the energy of the times and became inseparable from my guitar. I listened to and tried to assimilate the solos of my guitar heroes moving from one to the next, always looking for increasing levels of complexity and difficulty. It was bound to happen! I remember a guitarist friend of my brother, always aware of my insatiable desire for improvement, recommending I listen to a gypsy guitarist who was better than all others and to top it all, played mainly with only two fingers! His name was Django Reinhardt. Where do I listen to this guitarist? Is he alive? What does he play like? What happened to his hand?
I began my studies immediately. I learned Nuages first, playing along with the record over and over until I thought it sounded right. Nick and I sat for hours playing through our slowly but steadily increasing Django repertoire. We sought out information about the man, about these weird guitars with sound chambers. Some people called them Selmer's and others, Maccaferris. Some had D shaped holes and some oval. You could not buy them as they were very rare! Our investigations only ever got so far and our knowledge of Django gleaned almost exclusively from record sleeve notes, read over and over. Some years later Charles Delaunay's biography became available at the public library. Needless to say, it was read from cover to cover several times over.
Playing Django at this time was to some extent un-cool and to most
audiences unfamiliar. It was not Pop music! Nick and I did gigs where we
initially played heavily Chet Atkins-influenced sets but now
interspersed with Django numbers. It was at this time that we were
introduced to a local musician and Django exponent, Fred Degville
who played advanced ‘Hot Club’ with his son Paul, a few years our
senior. Paul still plays and is an amazing guitarist. Check him out
here.
I think it must be said that Diz did so much for the introduction and
development of gypsy jazz, not just in the UK but internationally.
Indeed, the regeneration of Stephane Grapelli’s career as many
will know, was down to Diz Disley. He had also worked with
Joseph
Reinhardt. I feel that it is so important to remember this chapter in
the Django Legacy. Similarly, in more recent times Ian Cruickshank
became the leading light in terms of introducing us to the new
generation of gypsy guitarists through his links with world class
exponents and promotional work and we owe him a great debt of gratitude
through his knowledge and empathy for shaping much of the Gypsy Jazz
landscape as we now perceive it. ‘Django Legacy’ must form a part of
every devotees collection of resources. A big thank you to both Diz and
Ian! Similarly in France we must respect the authority of Alain
Antonietto and in more recent times, Michael Dregni for their
inspirational work. The music has never been in better shape with so many wonderful guitarists offering their own take on this music. The quality of musicianship develops at an astonishing level. Accessibility has never been stronger with Festivals throughout the world. Affordable instruments are available in profusion for the aspiring gypsy guitarist, DVDs, CDs, the internet. Django would be amazed! - Paul Vernon Chester © Manouche Swing - JazzTzigane - Gypsy Swing - Gypsy Jazz - Jazz Manouche
Photo opportunity from The Gypsy Jazz Festival 1998 organised by Ian Cruickshank, which was very special indeed. Spot Diz Disley! A CD was recorded with all performers represented. The musicians in this second image from left to right, are: Patrick Sausois, Murray Salmon (Bass), Albert Vivi Limburger, Andy Crowdy (Bass), Paul Vernon Chester, Jez Cook, Tchi Limburger, Jeff Green (sunglasses), Jan Limburger (Trumpets), Diz Disley and Claudine Larne. Courtesy Killy Nonis.
Albert Vivi Limburger was a member of the famous WASO playing rhythm for
Fapy Lafertin. Tchi Limburger is now gaining an ever-growing reputation for
his fine musicianship both on violin and guitar, which he plays with equal
virtuosity. Patrick Sausois is a legend and played lovely guitar at this
festival. Jeff Green and Diz, as you know, both played with Stephane
Grappelli. We were all jamming whilst these photos were taken -
playing Sweet Sue!
Charles Delaunay This is the only full-length study of Django ever published in English, an unforgettable portrait of a wild and independent figure who never learned to read or write (friends forged his autographs), exasperated those people who lived by schedules, gambled away a week's salary in a night, but who played the guitar like no one before or since. The distinguished French critic Charles Delaunay, who knows more about Django than anyone alive, here provides not only the familiar outline of a life - the childhood travel in gypsy caravans, the fire that left Django with a crippled hand, the legendary temper and generosity - but he also collected scores of anecdotes about the sensitivity and musical gifts that were the basis for Django's appearance as a character in Jean Cocteau's Les Enfants Terribles. Who else but Django could charm his way out of a jail sentence by serenading the police with his guitar? The comprehensive discography at the back of the book completes Delaunay's picture of this "misrepresented and fantastic creature, at once so captivating and so divorced from the conversations of his age."
Alain Antonietto is the world’s pioneering historian of Jazz Tsigane. He is the author of numerous articles on Romany music, a long-time contributor to La Revue Etudes Tsiganes, and producer of albums collecting rare Gypsy music. He is also the co-author of Django Reinhardt: Un géant sur son nuage and Django Reinhardt: Rythmes futurs. He lives in Belleville, a Paris quarter made famous by Django’s jazz melody of the same name.
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Fred
was a mentor and generous spirit who really encouraged our devotion to Django, allowing us to nervously sit in for a few numbers. Occasionally,
