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July Song Of The Month--Anouman
This month's song is a rare and special gem that was only recorded by Django once, on 1/30/53 in France. It's a beautiful, haunting ballad and is one of the last of his compositions. He's on electric guitar and is accompanied, interestingly, by a band made up of the standard instrumentation of the classic hard bop bands of the day--sax, trumpet, piano, bass & drums. When my band plays it, our violinist plays the head. It's one of the few songs I've ever played at a gig that made people cry, and that's happened more than once. Of the many Django ballads that we play, this one is probably the slowest, and I love it that way. I usually remind myself before I count it off to do it even slower than I think I should. That allows it to breathe and makes the space for that melody to really work its magic. Here's a link to Django's classic version, I'll post the chart that we use later--
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Anecdotally, I always couldn’t help but notice the striking similarities between Anouman and Miles Davis’ (actually written by Bill Evans) Blue in Green. The first 8 bars of the chord progression are nearly identical as is the slow tempo and mysterious quality. Not likely Bill Evans listened to much Django, so more likely just another case of Django foreshadowing upcoming trends in jazz. Similarly, Appel Indirect is an early example of modal jazz that Davis made famous with So What.
It's main motif is also similar to Ralph Burns' famous tune "Early Autumn".
The song of course being a Django tribute to Hindu deity Lord Hanuman ...
Anouman uses the very powerful ordinary Bm (or Bm7) toward the end, instead of the more-expected Bm7b5. Like Tchavolo's song, "Dans la Vie" (not sure who wrote it).
Very insightful, Michael. You got me daydreaming about what it would have sounded like if Bill Evans & Django had ever played together. That would have been extraordinary.
I've been listening to Fanou Torracinta's new album, La Belle Vie, and the piano player, Bastien Brison, is certainly channeling Bill Evans at times. It really conjures images of Evans and Django playing together, with some nice string arrangements thrown in, too. I'm really enjoying it!
Very insightful, Michael. You got me daydreaming about what it would have sounded like if Bill Evans & Django had ever played together. That would have been extraordinary.
@MikeK probably something like this (my Bill Evan's inspired arrangement of Nuages.)
That's it! Surely that's you on the guitar, who's the violinist? Great arrangement, great playing.
Yes, that’s me. The violinist is Claude Ginsburg.