New pic of Django (Chicago Defender, 1947)

spatzo

Even Maxene Andrews one of the Andrews sisters went to meet Django there

Teddy Dupont

Regardless of what Josephson says, unless Django changed his clothes during the gig which seems highly unlikely to put it mildly 8-| , we have at least two different photo sessions here.

However, he is certainly right about Cafe Society Uptown being the wrong place for Django. I think this gig rather than the Ellington tour is what killed the American visit.

spatzo

I agree with you on both matters. Here's the copy of an article on Django's audiences in Café Society Uptown :

Teddy Dupont

spatzo wrote: »

Here's the copy of an article on Django's audiences in Café Society Uptown :

Tossers!!!! >:P

I have somewhere a quote from a guy who attended one of the Cafe Society Uptown gigs and he said that between sets, Django would stand outside alone smoking and looking lost and forlorn. I think this was a setback from which Django never fully recovered.

gatsby

More info and better quality pics here!
http://guitarejazzmanouche.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=31932&p=352189#p352189

A Gent

"Finger work...is highly competent"!

Priceless. I don't think I've ever read such damningly faint praise for Django.

Bob Holo

Hey Roger - this photo reminded me to introduce you to the University of Idaho's Jazz photo collection. I meant to do it years ago but forgot. UI has a very strong connection to the jazz world, which is sort of unusual given that it's in the west and one of the least diverse states in America. Anyway - a good school and with an appreciation of jazz and a music school underwritten by a grant from Lionel Hampton. Last concert I ever gave was at the dedication ceremony. Great memories.

Anyway, here's the UI Jazz collections home page. The Django photo is in the Leonard Feather Collection. It's all searchable; an absolutely wonderful resource for any jazz photo buff. This and the Gottlieb collection are two of my favorite websites (along with Djangobooks of course ;-) )

http://www.ijc.uidaho.edu/

Here's the Gottlieb homepage for those who've never seen it: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wghtml/wghome.html

Be careful... a person could get lost for hours if not days in either of these sites...

Teddy Dupont

Thanks a lot Bob. I'll have a look.

wim

Cool pic. I thought the lady was Billie Holiday at first glance. Looks like Django is turning the schmooze on with the left arm, hahah!
Who the heck is Hazel Scott?

Teddy Dupont

Hazel Scott was a jazz singer and pianist who married a US Congressman.

Although I said earlier that I think the Ellington tour was reasonably successful for Django, I think it would have been much more successful if Ellington had taken the trouble to include Django in some of his band arrangements. Django had a fantastic ear and could learn things almost instantly so it would surely have not been a major undertaking for him to have played with the entire band on a few tunes rather than just with a somewhat ad hoc rhythm section.

I feel that would have been far more impactful than seemingly to just add him on to the end of the concert almost as an afterthought. I not sure how I would have felt at the time going to a show advertised as Duke Ellington's Band with Django Reinhardt and finding Django playing "Improvisation No2" alone on an electric guitar. Probably surprised and possibly disappointed.