Did Django Use "Tricks"?

jonpowl · May 2020

One thing I thought was intriguing about Stephane Wrembel's interview on Fresh Air was his description of what set Django apart such as his use of "tricks". Now, Stephane couldn't really bring himself to actually say Django used "tricks", but his exact quote was "I hate to say tricks because they are not tricks". He then went on to play some examples of licks that were unique to Django's sound such as diminished runs, harmonics, octaves and open strings. This was at about 18.10 in the interview. In listening to a 2 hour compilation of Django's music, I did notice a lot of songs that contained what may be construed as "tricks". In fact, the word "tricks" made me think of Oscar Aleman, whom one might also accuse of using tricks. From a Wikipedia article about Oscar and his description of Django: "I knew Django Reinhardt well. He used to say jazz was gipsy—we often argued over that. I agree with many Americans I met in France who said he played very well but with too many gipsy tricks. He had very good technique for both hands, or rather one hand and a pick, because he always played with a pick". So, did the master, Django, ever stoop to using tricks?

Django compilation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUiRtFRzbxQ

FreshAir_SW.mp3

mac63000 · May 2020

Maybe it's just me but I don't think they are "tricks", or that Wremble's examples have a negative connotation on Django's style. I think it added elements to his playing that you simply didn't hear before on the guitar. Similar to what Hendrix did that made his playing innovative and his sound unique. Tricks in my mind are things that take bad playing and make it sound "good", or sometimes you see guitarists with a bunch of gimmicky theatrics to add a "wow" factor. I wouldn't say this is the case with Django, he had a big personality and these were parts of his expression in his playing.

Buco · May 2020

Honestly I don't even know what does that all mean, tricks as it relates to playing guitar. Does the use of them tricks somehow make it easier to play the instrument and sound virtuosic at the same time? I'm not being sarcastic. That word seriously always confused me.

wim · May 2020

dennis · May 2020

Depends how one defines tricks... it s all semantics. django definitely used things that were guitar oriented.

if someone playing another instrument were to transcribe his lines, they would't get it.

one such example would be the beginning of django s solo of i ll see u in my dreams where he s just arpeggiating chord shapes.

another example would be in sweet georgia brown (i think 1937?) where he does the tremolo open string double stops with one note a half step away on the G chord.

then you have the super fast one finger chromatic scale. So many examples

Django took full advantage of the guitar s natural properties, but he was always very musical in my opinion. Why not take advantage of what the instrument can do?

billyshakes · May 2020

While I haven't yet had a chance to listen completely to the Fresh Air episode, and I haven't heard the "tricks" quote in context, I will add these comments based on the discussion above. It seems that perhaps SW was afraid that by using the word "tricks" to describe Django's playing, it would somehow diminish Django's playing as without art. Even the OP's question about "stooping" to using tricks would imply that these things are somehow cheating. The only trick I would say that would qualify would be to have Oscar Aleman playing through an amplifier backstage while Django mimicked playing along onstage because his handicap did not allow him to play well (just like you'd see in Hollywood movies or similar to lip-syncing). We all know that isn't the case.

So then, did he engage in guitar theatrics that made him seem more virtuosic than he really was? Again, no, the techniques he used inspired those artists that knew him during his time and continue to inspire all of us today. If they hadn't been heard of or imagined before, does that make it a trick or is it an innovation? For instance, the diminished lick that is often used on the top three strings sounds very impressive to the uninitiated but is likely one of the first that we all learn and relatively easy to perform. To one who is unfamiliar, it sounds impressive. (Same concept: Was Eddie VanHalen's two-handed tapping a trick?)

To me, these are all just tools to use tastefully and in the right context. Even Aleman playing over the top of his fretboard...shoot, Jeff Healey played like that all the time while the guitar was on his lap....and he was blind! Trick? No, just his way of approaching and mastering the instrument.

Maybe that was Wrembel's hesitancy to use trick. Is there really any such thing as a trick (other than the deception I mentioned above?)

JSanta · May 2020

Having watched all of Stephane's recent FB live sessions the last two weeks, and interacting with him on a weekly basis during lessons, I don't think he had any negative connotations with the word selection.

I do have to wonder about why Aleman used the language he used in that interview (which was what, in 1982?), and it makes me think he did so out of a friendly rivalry he must have had/felt with Django.

For me, there are no tricks employed. Dennis captured exactly what I think when I hear Django - he employed the unique properties of the guitar to incorporate his experiences and musical admiration's. These are not tricks in a negative way, much like someone saying a person has "tricks up their sleeves", to me that means that the person has things they can rely on in any given situation.

bbwood_98 · May 2020

I think I will throw a few ideas into this discussion:

Tricks= vocabulary . . .

Almost all improvising musicians have them - from Charlie Parker's use of the "re-bop" phrase, and adding half steps to scales to make the rhythms work to Stephane Wrembel's use of poly rhythms and dynamics to keep a set exciting to Adrien's Moignard's use of altered tones and long rhythmic hemiolas over long dominant chords.

There are so many examples of this - and usually I'd just call it their 'bag' or vocabulary. Take a few of the authentic unique ideas from an individual and you've been influenced by them and their playing. Having this individual vocabulary is what makes each musician unique from an improvising perspective (and perhaps why we know their names!!).

I don't think assigning negative connotation to the word trick in this case is a bad thing.

A quick quote from Mick Carlon's interview with Benny Carter:

He seems eager to talk, so I add: “I was listening to the April 1937 session this morning.”

“Oh, the one with Bean and Django? That one came out rather well, I must say.” Benny’s diction is perfect; he speaks like a college professor. No surprise that when he teaches at Princeton University, he is Dr. Benny Carter.

Not expecting to be interviewing the great man himself, my brain scrambles for a question that doesn’t sound inane. I fail: “Do you remember that day?”

“Night, actually. Yes, I do. It had been raining hard all day so I took a cab to the studios. I remember the smell of Django’s strong French cigarettes. What was that brand name?” he asks.

I can’t help him. “What was Django like?” I ask, hoping that I’m not being a pest.

“Well, he only knew a handful of English words, so we couldn’t speak. But, Good Lord, could that man play guitar!”

-Ben

Buco · May 2020

I agree, there are no tricks in music playing, semantics or not. You either play the notes and making it sound good or don't.

When I hear "devices" used as a term, it makes some sense. Or just technique or a concept and yes even vocabulary. I get it that these devices (I'll call it that since it makes sense to me) can be learned somewhat easy by themselves and can sound impressive when played by themselves. But to incorporate all that in one's playing and make it sound fluid and swinging and all takes just as much time and effort as anything else on the instrument. I heard this before people calling tricks some things and I think the reason Stephane was being cautious about the use of the word is because it somehow implies that you're playing something that gives big bang for the buck, something that's easy-er to play but it makes you sound virtuosic. That notion is nonsense to me really. If that was the case there would be way more virtuosic sounding players out there. But it's not the case. If someone sounds like a virtuoso it's probably because they are.

My theory though about how Django came up with some of these things is he heard it on different instruments and said to himself ok how do I do that on guitar: stride piano, screaming trumpets...