Django Bebop!

woodamand

I just got turned onto this, which I will be buying immediately
http://www.freshsoundrecords.com/django-reinhardt-albums/6056-the-last-studio-sessions-1951-1953.html
The last recordings. What really kills me about these sessions (besides the truly wonderful playing from everyone) is that this is really a Bebop record - not just Django doing the same old same old as so many excellent musicians have over the years. I read one time that Miles said inthe 70's that he he no longer played ballads. It wasn't because he didn't love playing them, but he had already done that, and superbly of course.
So it makes me very happy the Django just didn't stop thinking and evolving.
And I think once again, what a complete shame that this man had to die so young!

PapsPier

Yes! Django's evolution is amazing.
Even if now, he is totally linked with a certain sound and style of playing (violin Quintet, swing tunes), he played that style only for a few years.
The sound of the 40's is not the same as the one from the 30's, it sounds more like the small groups of Benny Goodman.
When he comes back from the US, he tried a lot of things on the blues, he plays around to find an electric sound. etc.
Definitely a lot more to explore rather than "just" the Quintet du Hot Club de France.

Nejc

Even in the pre bebop era he was always good at adapting to all kinds of "situations". His sound and style of playing if you consider he played pretty much always acoustic guitar was drastically different from one recording to another. Just yesterday night I had a marathon session of django recordings and what really strikes me again and again was how different of an approach django had in each of the songs he played. What I mean by that is that he really knew how to alter the guitar sound lets say the tremolo to accompany the lead player. He never played it the same way, unlike most of the players today who learn the tremolo and then they use the same kind of tremolo sound on every record. You can really hear how effortless his guitar playing was.

Jazzaferri

Years ago I was doing a presentation o n Django to a class in Jazz history. I opened by playing Blues for Ike I think it was. One of the fast ones recorded in early 53 anyway.

They all thought it very cool and modern sounding jazz guitar.