Which Django Era?

LorenzoLeJazzHot

this is a difficult question... my answer has been "Impossible to choose, I love them all", but personally I really enjoy the 1949 recording session in Rome (and not because I'm italian). I think it represents a different way of thinking in Django's style... classy, but sometimes very elaborate, sometimes very very simple...

Svanis1337

Jazzaferri wrote: »

Where would he have taken jazz and particularly guitar if he had been able to play along with Oscar Peterson, Miles, Bird, Dizzy, Coltrane, etc etc.

And to think that Norman Granz planned to record Django with Oscar Peterson and Ray Brown, and include him in 1953's Jazz at the Philharmonic and release the recordings... Very frustrating.

Jazzaferri

That would have been a great session. Ray Brown and Paul Chambers are two of my fave bassists of that era and Oscar is my fave jazz pianist of all time. So very unfortunate.

@svannis1337 thanks for posting those clips.

Teddy Dupont

I think the 1930's and early 40's Django would have suited the Benny Goodman small groups much better than Charlie Christian. I would love to have heard Goodman and Django playing together. Musically, they would have melded perfectly but been a complete disaster in terms of their personalities. X_X

Michael Bauer

May be Teddy. I would have loved to hear Django with Benny, or even more, Django with Charlie. Django may have had a more vivid melodic imagination than Charlie, but nobody who has ever lived on this planet could swing harder than Charlie…no one. Benny's small groups would have sounded different with Django, but not necessarily better.

And I am not so sure Django would have thrived in the more restrictive atmosphere of Goodman's groups. Personally, I think Benny held Charlie back in a sense, and he might have done the same to Django. It was Benny's band always, and everyone had to fit into his ensemble sound. When you listen to the stuff recorded at Minton's, it becomes obvious that Charlie had a lot more going than ever showed up in the recordings he did with Benny. I wish more after hours stuff with Charlie on guitar would show up, because while I think Django's total body of work is greater, I think Charlie's "Topsy" solo at Mintons is my favorite guitar solo ever recorded (although Django has several that are breathing down its neck!)

Charlie was only 25 when he died, and 24 the last time he recorded, so he had substantially less time to grow musically than Django. In fact, if you compare what Charlie did to what Django did by age 24/25, I think Charlie makes a pretty good case for himself. But both are so great that they are above comparison. The real tragedy is that fate never gave them a chance to play together. What an amazing thing that would have been!

Jazzaferri

I'm not sure what Django would have made of the Goodman Ray

Teddy Dupont

Michael Bauer wrote: »

May be Teddy. I would have loved to hear Django with Benny, or even more, Django with Charlie. Django may have had a more vivid melodic imagination than Charlie, but nobody who has ever lived on this planet could swing harder than Charlie…no one. Benny's small groups would have sounded different with Django, but not necessarily better.

I wasn't questioning Charlie Christian's ability as a guitarist, I just feel Django's earlier acoustic playing would have suited the Goodman small group's musical style much better. However, I do not think Django and Benny Goodman could have tolerated each others approach to life for a moment.

I am less enthusiastic about hearing Django and Charlie together because I much prefer to hear the guitar with other instruments as, I think, did Django.

Michael Bauer

Django's and Charlie's guitar sounds were so different while Charlie was alive, that I think they'd have sounded like two different instruments. Charlie sounded much more horn-like, and I suspect Django would have found that interesting. Besides, who could not want to hear the two most influential jazz guitarists in history inspiring each other?

I never thought Goodman's small groups were ever quite as good after Charlie was gone. I think he was such an integral part of their sound. Django would have been an interesting fit, though…at least for the few days that he lasted before Benny fired him for not showing up to a gig!

By the way, I live just a couple of minutes from Hull House, where Benny Goodman learned to play clarinet!

Jazzaferri

I rather think that Django would have walked out the first time Goodman gave him the Ray. Given Goodman's ego, that probably would have happened in the first few tunes. LOL