Continental Jazz

A year after its founding in 1953, the classical Angel label started a short-lived jazz series on 10" LPs devoted to performers from Europe and Australia. This one (and a sequel, Django's Guitar) became well and away the most collectable items on the series, drawing from EMI's...

The dozen recordings on this CD (a straight reissue of an earlier Prestige LP) are not Django Reinhardt's very first recordings, nor are these all of the early selections by the Quintet of the Hot Club of France. Actually included are 11 of the classic string group's first 20 numbers,...

Although fellow violinist Stephane Grappelli is billed as co-leader, this is very much L. Subramaniam's date. All eight compositions (except for Grappelli's solo piano rendition of his "Tribute to Mani") are by Subramaniam, and the music (which utilizes electronics, modern...

In 1994, BGO released Art of Django/Django -- The Unforgettable, which contained two complete albums -- Art of Django and Django -- The Unforgettable -- by gypsy guitar great Django Reinhardt on one compact disc. ~ Tim Sendra, All Music Guide

During the LP era, Django Reinhardt's discography seemed substantial and pleasantly challenging; along came digital reproduction with the emergence of uncommon or previously undiscovered works, and now there are enough Reinhardt albums to confuse even the experienced connoisseur. Perhaps...

Ted Heath was one of the very best British ig band leaders of the 1940s and '50s. In 2000, Jasmine Records unleashed a 24-track Ted Heath retrospective that should be counted among the very finest in his entire discography. This chronologically stacked anthology opens with "Opus...

Fletcher Henderson was always Benny Goodman's favorite arranger. He contributed many charts for BG's big band from 1934 up until 1947, and Goodman revived quite a few of the arrangements in later years. However along the way, the clarinetist did not have the opportunity to record all...

This budget five-disc box collects Reinhardt's first 124 recordings between 1934-1939. Curiously enough, despite the title, these sides aren't chronological, a fact that engineer Ted Kendall admits in the liner notes. Rather, while each disc's featured sessions are presented...

At age 84, Stephane Grappelli was continuing to amaze and delight with his energy, invention, enthusiasm, and the sheer swinging joy of his playing. Having almost singlehandedly defined an entire style of jazz violin with guitarist Django Reinhardt in the 1930s, he has never departed from that...

In 1949, guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stephane Grappelli performed together for the first time since the outbreak of World War II put an end to the classic lineup of the Quintet of the Hot Club of France, with the pair reuniting in an Italian recording studio and laying down a number...

Although this core sample from Django Reinhardt's final years is filled with brilliant solos played on an amplified Maccaferi guitar, the phrase "guitar solos" might lead to the assumption that Reinhardt performs alone here. This is not the case; the first 12 tracks are played by...

Guitarist Bireli Lagrene is one of several European heirs to the tradition of Gypsy swing launched by Django Reinhardt. Lagrene has incredible technique on display through this two-CD set, which compiles a solo concert and a meeting with the WDR Big Band, which have also been released...

There are two distinct periods covered by this compilation of sessions Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli, and the Quintet of the Hot Club of France recorded for a number of French labels. The first was just before Grappelli left France to go to England, not wanting to be under the Nazi...

By the time the 71-year-old Stephane Grappelli made this live trio recording with guitarist Joe Pass and bassist Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, his legacy as the greatest of all jazz violinists was firmly in place. Granted, that made him first in a fairly short line of colleagues -- other than...

After some five years with the Quintette du Hot Club de France, guitarist Django Reinhardt went solo in 1939 with his own ig band and a few different combos. His most famous musical partner, violinist Stephane Grappelli, stayed in England during the war to pursue solo ventures of his own -- and...

This CD features a logical combination of two talented Frenchmen, violinist Stéphane Grappelli and pianist Michel Petrucciani, who had never recorded together before. With the assistance of bassist George Mraz and drummer Roy Haynes, the co-leaders romp on a variety of standards....

Released in 1996, BGO's double-disc tribute to Django Reinhardt stands among numerous compilations focusing upon the Gypsy guitarist's collaborations with North American musicians. Despite the complete and regrettable absence of American harmonica virtuoso Larry Adler (who recorded...

Celebrating Grappelli was issued shortly after the legendary jazz violinist's death on December 1, 1997; it is actually under guitarist Martin Taylor's leadership, with Grappelli as an overdubbed guest on three tracks plus three duets repeated from their Reunion CD recorded in 1993....