What if Django had lived ?

Lango-Django

I agree with Bob's comparison with Louis Armstrong. However, from the books I've read about Django, I get the impression that in his later years he seemed pretty happy to abandon his guitar in favour of a fishing rod or pool cue, unlike Armstrong who seemd to thrive on touring and performing.

it seems likely to me that had he lived longer, Django would have become interested in Fender or Les Paul-type solid body electric guitars and would have undoubtedly played some cool stuff with them... How about "Jimi Hendrix and his band of Gypsies--- featuring Django Reinhardt!" In fact, WTF, as we're in the realm of speculation, Django could've played on the 1969 album that Hendrix wanted to make with Miles Davis and Paul McCartney!

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/ ... s-20130510

Admittedly, its hard to imagine Django playing rock music, but bossa nova, definitely! And perhaps even country music or bluegrass... and he might well have enjoyed playing around with some of the multi-tracking innovations of his friend and admirer Les Paul.

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But speaking as someone who LOVES the sound of a Selmer-type guitar, I would certainly think that after a brief fling with electric guitars, Django would eventually have reverted back to that wonderful Selmer sound!

Jazzaferri

post bop, modal jazz, rock, I am sure all that was new musically would have appealed to him. I think the post war let down was just a battery recharge time

My fave stuff of his is from the period just before his untimely passing.

Django and Pops both transcended their field and brought it to a much wider audience over a number of generations.

The only other person in improv music who I can think of that is in that league maybe is Miles.

Lango-Django

Excellent, Stuart, except you forgot Django's immortal 1978 "Gotta Serve Somebody" tour with Bob Dylan, when under Dylan's influence, Django became a born-again Christian and briefly abandoned the guitar in favor of the dobro.

"Wow! You can play this thing without any left hand fingers at all! Thank you, Jesus!"

Archtop Eddy

stuart wrote:

1960-65 ...his star wanes and faced with gambling debts is reduced to recording Django Reinhardt Plays the Beatles

Stuck my hand in an alternate universe. Couldn't find that one but found this... AE

Lango-Django

Then there was Django's regrettable "Sun Records" period in the late fifties and early sixties, when he fell under the unfortunate influence of Johnny Cash's Tennesee Two guitarist Luther Perkins and insisted on limiting all his solos to "boom chick-a, boom chick-a".

Ando

Django would've come to the US again, toured Chicago (gangsta!), and got in on selling expensive jazz/trout fishing tours in Hemingway country. The Gibson endorsement helped.