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The Making of Django Reinhardt

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11–20 of 37 posts

Re: The Making of Django Reinhardt

#11
post #2

It's strange seeing valuable articles being flagged as dead in the new section but somehow this gets promoted to the front page because of the Django framework shares the same first name as this Jazz musician.

You are witnessing culture propagating beyond algorithmic boundaries. If you find this strange, consider the etymology of jazz itself.

Re: The Making of Django Reinhardt

#13
If you are ever in NYC, the present-day patron saint of gypsy jazz (Stephane Wrembel) has a residency at Barbes in Park Slope. He plays every Sunday at 8, and hosts an annual festival "Django a Gogo" coming up on the first weekend in May.

It's a super good time.

Re: The Making of Django Reinhardt

#14
post #5

As as ipaddr points out it seems this got promoted by an algorithm. But that aside I always felt like Django's music aged quiet poorly. A few country/blues/jazz and related styles from the first half of 20th century have. Big band - did not age well and effectively vanished as far I can see. Rag time, a very popular style for a couple of decades, gives me some enjoyment but mostly as a curiosity. That is all in contr…

It's interesting that you mentioned big band with Django, as I have both lumped together in my head as well; things that are much more impressive live than on a recording. Stepping into a venue where people are actually dancing to live to a jazz or swing band, and to not just hear but feel the deafening blast of horns are things you just can't get from a recording. I get a weird nostalgia for those live moments when…

>Stepping into a venue where people are actually dancing to live to a jazz or swing band, and to not just hear but feel the deafening blast of horns are things you just can't get from a recording.

Dancing bal to a gypsy jazz group at Le Colonial in SF years ago, the space cramped, the tables pushed back a few feet around, the crowd dancing and mingling amongst the tables, half knowing each other, at the twilight of a dying facet of the city... I don't remember if the musicians were very good, or even whether it was just a solo guitarist---I recall he'd played at a party a day or two before---but in that moment the music was more enchanting than any grand concert I had been to.

Even live, but in a concert hall, I expect it would have been unsatisfying. By itself, except for particular technical appreciation when at Django's level, gypsy jazz is rather monotonous. I've heard styles that need similar contexts, played out of place in concert halls, like Max Raabe, and while the musicians are excellent, it feels lacking.

But in the right context, the context it was born in, it is amazing.

Re: The Making of Django Reinhardt

#15

If you aren't happy, or want to be happier, just put on some Django Reinhardt and sit back for a second. The Joe Pass tribute album is also absolutely incredible. Truly truly some amazing music.

Everyone needs some Django in their collection. It's welcome any time, anywhere.

Re: The Making of Django Reinhardt

#16
Although I was already very familiar with jazz, I wasn't aware of Django and the Gypsy Swing / Swing Manouche.

One day, probably being 16, I discovered it and it changed my experience with music forever.

While my friends fantasized with motorcycles, I was dreaming to attend the Samois Sur Senne festival. This passion drove me to fly to Rome, Paris, Berlin, etc just to see Angelo Debarre or Rosenberg, to fanatically collect records that never made it to the digital era like Waso's, and what not.

For those that weren't exposed yet to it, please, let yourself be tempted. Allow Django's music touch you with its brutal delicacy and self-mocking irony.

Now, after 30 years, I still love it.

Re: The Making of Django Reinhardt

#17

If you are ever in NYC, the present-day patron saint of gypsy jazz (Stephane Wrembel) has a residency at Barbes in Park Slope. He plays every Sunday at 8, and hosts an annual festival "Django a Gogo" coming up on the first weekend in May. It's a super good time.

Also a good club called Drom that hosts a lot of good gypsy music. Drom being the Romany word for road.

Re: The Making of Django Reinhardt

#18
In college, in a music class (History of Jazz maybe?), I had to miss an exam, and the professor assigned me an essay to make up for it: Life and impact of Django Reinhardt, minimum of 10 pages (back in the "12 point font, Times New Roman" days).

This was in the early '00s, and hand-over-heart, there was less than 10 pages _on the internet_ about Reinhardt. The collegiate library was not much more help.

Re: The Making of Django Reinhardt

#19

If you are ever in NYC, the present-day patron saint of gypsy jazz (Stephane Wrembel) has a residency at Barbes in Park Slope. He plays every Sunday at 8, and hosts an annual festival "Django a Gogo" coming up on the first weekend in May. It's a super good time.

Also a good club called Drom that hosts a lot of good gypsy music. Drom being the Romany word for road.

Thanks for the tip!

Re: The Making of Django Reinhardt

#20
post #2

It's strange seeing valuable articles being flagged as dead in the new section but somehow this gets promoted to the front page because of the Django framework shares the same first name as this Jazz musician.

Yeah it’s driven by bots.

No bots in this case. See my reply upthread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40069963
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