Louis Armstrong influence on Django

Jangle_Jamie

I've always heard Louis' and Ella's voices as instruments, and their melodies are so totally and absolutely beautiful and full of dynamics and tenderness, that I reckon Django made sure his guitar sounded like their singing. And it does.

Buco

For example, this is stylistically so unusual for guitar, right at 1:01, I'm guessing he was translating the effect of stride piano playing style onto the guitar. It's still a pure genius:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=SzNOfTtrkWU&t=60s

BillDaCostaWilliams

I'm guessing he was translating the effect of stride piano playing style onto the guitar.

Good example Buco. To me it's reminiscent of the shuffle lines of violinists like Joe Venuti or Stuff Smith.

Buco

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/125154#Comment_125154

Actually, that sounds closer to what he was doing.

Buco

One part of Marc's comment I missed initially was

Django had his own wings

Django's wings were as wide or wider than most well known musicians of any genre. Stephane W sometimes says if you wanna learn about music , period, you can find everything from listening to Django. I completely agree. It's just that the initial proposition was about what inspired him to eventually grow and spread his wings. His expressiveness on a guitar was above everything at that time. And above most things today. Some of the ways he approached the instrument were unheard of. It must've been inspired by something, no? My feeling is it came from hearing things in other people's music, played on other instruments that he wanted to be able to express on a guitar. And did he ever invent new ways to approach guitar playing...