Floyd Smith Meets Django

wayne nakamura

Not sure if you're familiar with Jas Obrecht's blog: http://jasobrecht.com

Here's an article on Floyd Smith meeting Django:

http://jasobrecht.com/floyd-smith-1930s ... ng-django/

In ’39, and I went into Army. May the 23rd, 1942. I was in the service until November 1946. I served in the ETO – not as a musician. I was a first sergeant with the amphibious truck company [laughs]. That’s where I met Django!

What?!


Django

Now, after Paris was liberated, I was walkin’ down the street in Paris, and I run into a black news correspondent named Ollie Stewart. He worked for the Baltimore Afro-American, a black paper. And I said to Ollie, I said, “Ollie, you remember me?” He said, “Sure, I remember you! Andy Kirk’s band at the Royal Theater in Baltimore.” I said, “Ollie, I’m trying to find Django Reinhardt’s house.” Ollie says, “Floyd, I’m goin’ there now.” This was in ’44. So we go to Django’s house, and he opens the door. Ollie says, “Django, Floyd Smith.” And Django grabbed me and hugged me and pulled me right on in the house. And he went right to the wall and he took two guitars off the wall and handed me one and he got one, and we went to it. So now this went on for about two or three hours. And I had to go back to camp. I was stationed about 25 miles outside of Paris. And he cried, and oh, he just cried, ’cause he had heard so much about me. He didn’t speak too good of English. So now to make a long story short, Obrecht, I was in the dentist’s office in New York. I was playin’ with Bill Doggett’s band then – I think it was around 1960. So a trombone player with Ray Charles, George Washington, he said, “Floyd, I just saw an article in Saga magazine, where you and Django played together in Paris!” I said, “Yeah.” He gave me the address, and I went over and I got it, and I’m gonna send this to you. I’m gonna get it to you just as soon as possible. [See the Epilog at the end of the interview for this article.]

How many times did you meet Django?

Just once. Ollie wrote about it Saga magazine, and he said that he was so disappointed that there was no tape recorders, no wire recorders, or nothing around at that time that he could have recorded Django and I playing.

What kind of stuff did you play?

You know, Django was always kind of up-tempo swing. We did some “Lady Be Good,” “Sweet Sue,” and “Chinatown.” You know, he was always a boop-boop-boop-boop-boop-boop type of guitar player.


Epilog

Floyd Smith did loan me a copy of the June 1963 issue of Saga magazine with Ollie Stewart’s article. In it, Stewart recounted their meeting at Django’s house in 1944: “I introduced the two men as one guitarist to another. Then Django simply handed Floyd a guitar and took another one from the wall himself. Django gave ‘Sweet Sue’ the once-over-lightly, then Floyd took over and treated ‘Sue’ in a different key. After that he and Django both jumped on the tune and gave it a face-lifting. I’d heard Django at the Bal Tabarin, but even for all the loot they gave him, he never played like this. After a few minutes he was crooning to himself and patting his foot like mad. You knew he had found a kindred spirit. They exchanged guitars for ‘Blue Moon’ and ‘Lady Be Good,’ and took turns decking out ‘Sweet Georgia Brown.’ How long they played, I just don’t know. You don’t hold a watch on great moments. All they got out of it was satisfaction – and a nod of approval from the other guy. All I got out of it was guitar fever, and it still hasn’t gone away. When it was almost dark Floyd and I made a reluctant departure. Django came to the door, and nobody said anything but ‘So long.’ Everything else had already been said.” Floyd Smith passed away in March 1982.