NDR Jazz Workshop: A Tribute to Django Reinhardt & Stéphane Grappelli
NDR Jazz at the Rolf-Liebermann-Studio
Memories of a jazz legend
In Duke Ellington’s opinion, Django Reinhardt (1910-1953) was »the most creative jazz musician outside the USA«, while guitarist Barney Kessel thought that if he had lived longer, he would have »changed the course of contemporary jazz guitar – perhaps even of music itself«. In 1934, Django and the violinist Stéphane Grappelli founded the »Quintette du Hot Club de France«, which played solely on stringed instruments. They were pioneers of European jazz and forged a style known worldwide to this day as »gypsy jazz« or »jazz Manouche«. Django himself belonged to the Manouches, a French subgroup of the Roma and Sinti. There are many stories and legends attached to him: the fact that he lived in a caravan despite his fame; the serious burns that left him with only two fingers he could use on his playing hand; his survival in Nazi-occupied Paris. To this day, Django Reinhardt is still with us in many ways – in memories and as inspiration. And this is where the NDR jazz workshop starts.
A distinguished line-up from France, Spain, England and Germany that has never appeared together before. Each of them has a link with the music of the »Hot Club«. Bass player Jean-Philippe Viret was a member of the late Stéphane Grappelli’s band. Violinist Mathias Lévy has recorded an acclaimed Grappelli tribute. Eminent electric guitarist Javier Sanchez has an acoustic Django project in Spain, and Martin Taylor has not only played alongside Jeff Beck, George Harrison and Gary Burton, but also worked for over ten years with Stéphane Grappelli.
Taylor comes from an English Sinti and Roma family. His German »cousin« Giovanni Weiss, twice-over ECHO prizewinner, is fond of fluctuating between Django and George Benson. In the first part, the workshop evokes memories of the »Quintette du Hot Club de France«. The actor Burghart Klaußner – a Django fan himself – accompanies the music with extracts from his extraordinary biography and texts about the friendship with Stéphane Grappelli. Then the band embarks on a journey that is nothing if not exciting: what would have happened if Django Reinhardt had not died so early, so that his quintet had carried on in the original line-up?
Performers
NDR Jazz Workshop
Mathias Lévy violin
Jean-Philippe Viret bass
Martin Taylor guitar
Javier Sánchez guitar
Giovanni Weiss guitar
Burghart Klaußner narrator
Programme
A Tribute to Django Reinhardt & Stéphane Grappelli – 90 Years of »Quintette du Hot Club de France«
Subscription
NDR Jazz (Fridays)