Jerry Garcia on Django

pickitjohn · February 2014

Hey was reading thru these post while eating a Beautiful Homegrown Tomato,
Way to into the pleasure of the moment, to be bothered by someone's opinion of who is playing GYPSY JAZZ. :peace:

pick on

pickitjohn

Jazzaferri · February 2014

ROFL

gitpicker · February 2014

@anthon_74 I know what you mean. John Jorgenson is still rocking out hard on electric guitar these days and his gypsy jazz has fared pretty well I'd say

Stringswinger · February 2014

Django has been a great influence on musicians from many genres, even other instruments. He is one of the giants. We all stand on his shoulders. I will consider him a personal hero all of my days.

Buco · February 2014

Pancake's post came right after mine so I think he was describing me. Don't know how, but he hit it like a hammer on the nail, unreal seriously. Maybe it's someone I know. Everything that was said is true, a has been rocker, rehashing and all.
I'm loving it too!!!

A Gent · February 2014

Jerry Garcia is spot-on about Django's artistry and the vividness of his playing, but his bafflement at Django's technique seems almost to belong to another age.

Of course none of us can help but be astonished still, but in those days Django's admirers were happy to leave it a mystery. Almost none of them presumed to play like him. These days there are thousands of us. What changed?

lostjohn · February 2014

You know, gent, relating to your comments concerning his bafflement at Djanglo's technique, the same thought occurred to me when I posted this. But, that was almost 30 years ago. I think players, particularly in North America, have come a long way in de-mystifying the style since then. I think lit had probably already happened in Europe by that time, though.
However, that being said, I think his opinion of the more esoteric aspects go Django's playing are spot on, now and forever.
I'm not really sure what point Pancake was trying to make, though. It almost seems his comment was intended for another discussion, an he hit the wrong button, lol.
Whatever, long live Jerry - long live Django!

anthon_74 · February 2014

A Gent wrote: »

but his bafflement at Django's technique seems almost to belong to another age...
Of course none of us can help but be astonished still, but in those days Django's admirers were happy to leave it a mystery. Almost none of them presumed to play like him. These days there are thousands of us. What changed?

Concerning demystifying django's playing, while I have seen some take on django solos only using 2 fingers, I haven't seen anyone play with the ease, artistry, and style of django using only 2 fingers.
I scoured videos, for example, of different modern players playing improvisation #1, and in every single one I found, the player used all of his available fingers, including his pinky.
I've also watched several videos of guys like Stochello play djangos tiger, and not only do they use all 4 fingers, they play the notes in a way that would have been impossible for django.
Can someone point me to a modern player who has shown he can play as just well as django using only 2 fingers, both django solos AND original improvisation ?

I haven't seen it.