The Jazz Project - Album 87.5: Danjo Reinhardt - "The Best Of Django Reinhardt Vol. 1"

             To further my understanding of Jazz, I'm listening through Jazzwise Magazine's "The 100 Jazz Albums That Shook The World". Each album is presented with my stream-of-consciousness thoughts for each track, my general thoughts of the album as a whole, and any relevant information I can capture about the album. Also included is my drink of choice while taking the album in. Thank you for joining me on my journey to [partial] Jazz enlightenment.

Album 87.5
Django Reinhardt - The Best of Django Reinhardt Vol. 1
Drinking: Seltzer

Photo credit: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71sg9h9fmYL._SS500_.jpg

        I need to make a quick note in this particular entry. I couldn't track down the actual 87th album, Django Reinhardt: Retrospective 1934-53, which was unfortunate. After some research, the closest I could get with the resources available was The Best Of Django Reinhardt Vol. 1". Being 35 tracks in length, I truly believe this is an acceptable substitute, and I hope you enjoy my track-by-track look at this record. 

1. "Griserie": To start, I'm a tad shocked to hear an accordion at the start of a volume of music dedicated to a famous guitar player. That aside, the music sounds good. It's a shame Reinhardt wasn't around for modern recording practices to capture his playing, more fidelity would only enhance the experience. I suspect he's playing in the back behind the accordion as there are some tasty licks peppered in. 
2. "Si j'aime Suzy": A cute, romantic song. Django is holding the rhythm incredibly well, and his ability to knock out these hammer-on and pull-off licks is incredible. Additionally, I'm floored by his tremolo picking technique. This was a fun track! 
3. "Blue Moon": I love the big band sound this song provides. Django has a cool swagger in his playing on this track. Again, I wish he was more in the center of the music and the overall track. 
4. "What A Difference A Day Made": A classic song, and classic performance. Over these few tracks, Reinhardt shows a very particular playing technique while playing behind the band. A great track!
5. "Rosetta": This has got that Django sound I was hearing about! Those chord changes are smoking! The little flourishes here and there are amazing! That picking hand is a beast! A great track, and a memorable one. 
6. "The Object Of My Affection": I love the swing of this track. Django's percussive playing provides a great shuffle that keeps this song toe-tapping. The piano playing has some great flavor as well! The solo featured in this song has a great amount of attitude, though the following trumpet solo isn't my favorite. Right at the end, we get a moment of Reinhardt flair that is excellent! 
7. "I Can't Give You Anything But Love": The guitar playing is incredible! This is what I've been waiting for this whole album. I love how it switches from vibrato filled soloing to blisteringly fast shred. I wish his playing was more forward in the mix because it's just so good. The singer in this track is also great, especially her scatting technique, it doesn't throw all these syllables in your face all the time. The violin solo was a delightful surprise. 
8. "After You Gone": This song features the best violin solo over a jazz intro that this listener has ever heard. Django holds the track up with this rhythmic backbone like a beast! The song definitely has swing to it. Another great guitar solo on this track. Reinhardt's playing complements violins so well. 
9. "Limehouse Blues": First, I love the name of this track. This has a real Roma vibe to it. I really like what this song provides. Why it took so long on this album to get to this type of playing is beyond me. His picking technique is out of this world!
10. "Swing Guitars": The title of this song excited me, and there is a swing to this song. The violin is laying some stuff down in a delightful way, and it reminds me of an announcer at a fight. The first solo has lots of class behind it, and then the song gets funkier and weirder as it goes on. I dig this track a lot. With what seems like a key change, the violin carries the song out. 
11. "Shine": After 11 tracks, I still cannot wrap my brain around how he plays at this pace so consistently, it's insane. That aside, I was not wowed by this track, but it does contain some great virtuosity. 
12. "Sweet Chorus": I like how off-kilter the intro is. The tempo allows Django to let that guitar work wail! I'll be revisiting this song later as this song just swings in all the right ways. 
13. "Charleston": Given the sound of the song, I can only guess this is about the dance, not the city. With seemingly little effort, Django gets this song to pop with that shuffle strumming pattern he utilizes. A smoking track. 
14. "Solitude": This intro spoke to me, all these little flairs from Django grabs your ear and holds the attention. It sounds like someone trying to capture all the sounds one experiences living a quiet life. Birds singing, houses creaking, and the sadness of living alone. 
15. "Hot Lips": "Hot Lips" has some swing to it! This track has attitude! I'd say given what little knowledge I have Django Reinhardt, this would currently be the track I'd pass to someone so they could get a taste of what he offers. 
16. "Rose Room": Out of the gate, this song feels quite blah. I'd want to know why "Rose Room" was added to this list as it doesn't pop like some others I've heard. Even the solo seems quite blasé. Bland is the word I associate with this track. 
17. "When Day Is Done": That intro! WOW! I loved it. The somber feeling of his tone as the song progresses past the intro is incredible. I'm utterly in awe of his ability. Sadly, when the whole band joins in, this atmosphere the intro has created dissipates into something less dramatic. Oh well, I guess it makes sense in the way that coming home from work would help you ease up and be happier. It's a shame though because the beginning was an enrapturing moment.  
18. "Chicago": I found this shuffle to be quite attractive. A good head-bobbing track. Not much else to say about this song. 
19. "Miss Annabelle Lee": I'm discovering I prefer the endpoints of the Django spectrum, fast and slow. The tempo and pace of this song are excellent! The mid-tempo offerings so far have been bland, even dull to me. Thankfully, this song has some spunk to it. Loved it. 
20. "Mistery Pacific": The intro is pretty great, almost tribal! How he can hold that ferocious pace so consistently is beyond me. The offset beat this one possesses is inspiring. How one couldn't dance where you stand while listening to this song is beyond me.  
21. "The Sheik of Araby": Another mid-tempo song that leaves me feeling bored. There is a blistering solo in the middle that's redeeming and worth hearing. Don't skip to the solo, the rest is skip-worthy. 
22. "Parfum": A touching intro. His vibrato technique is so good. I need more soloing Django in my life. On top of that, his understanding of rhythm is amazing. We find Django blending jazz and more traditional styles very successfully on this track. This currently lives in the top three favorite Reinhardt songs. 
23. "Alabamy Bound": Not a bad track in this giant spread of songs. It doesn't wow me after "Parfum," but we all be a "Parfum" all the time now can we? The violin solo is excellent (this is a trend in the Django catalog it appears). About midway through the tempo picks up and takes off. Stick around for that middle section, it's very worth it. 
24. "Crazy Rhythm": This song has some great flavor to it. The brass section swings and feels fresh. I'd play this music at a dinner party. I'd love to hear Django and the sax player solo-dual, I bet it'd get heated. 
25. "Out Of Nowhere": "Out Of Nowhere" only reaffirms my suspicion that I'm only into slow and fast Django. This feels like a cool autumn day for me. The sax solo is excellent. I'm loving this song. 
26. "Sweet Georgia Brown": The intro features a great percussion part. I'm not loving this track, but it has a great party aspect to it. There are a lot of voices holding the floor for a brief moment and exchanging turns right up to the sax solo. I do feel the trumpet is too muted and doesn't shine in its moment. 
27. "Sweet Sue": I love the trombone solo, we need more trombone solos as a people. These songs have been moving away from Django's virtuosity and it saddens me, though his chord work is impeccable. 
28. "Japanese Sandman": This is a strutting song! Django's guitar playing has tons of attitude and I'm loving it. More slide trombone too, what a treat! It isn't my favorite Django solo, but it kept my attention. Don't skip this one. 
29. "Saint Louis Blues": I feel like I should be sipping a mint julep on a porch in the south when I hear this song. It transports me to a life I don't get to live, which is pretty cool. I liked the solo best, but the rest of this song was alright too. 
30. "Bouncin' Around": I liked this song right out from the get-go. It's got swagger and it feels like you're following someone around who's up to no good. Django's playing at the end has a lot of sass to it, and I enjoyed this one. 
31. "Lady Be Good": Django's playing here feels very conversational. It works for the song, perhaps the guitar is begging the violin to be good. Ultimately the song didn't wow me. 
32. "Daphne": The song starts with the violins saying Daphne with the way they play, very cool. This song has some pluck to it. I dig it. the pace feels right for what the violin is playing. It's more musical than the last piece. Django's solo feels perfect for this song. Surprisingly enjoyable song. 
33. "I've Found A New Baby": I think that was the most metal intro yet! That dissonance! It wowed me. This song has some good tone to it. The drama helps it stick out! I think this is some of my favorite chord work. 
34. "Baby Won't You Please Come Home": I can imagine having this is an old-time bar as it's just starting to open. It's daylight and you can still smell the sweat from the night before. 
35. "Avalon": This must be an old recording or a live recording. Everything bleeds together. The music is good, but the product is meh at best. You can barely hear Django in the back of the mix over the bass. I would have dropped this track from the list. 

Photo credit: https://live.staticflickr.com/5675/21434160825_546cc8cb6d_b.jpg

 Overall Thoughts: I wanted to love this more than I did because of Reinhardt's status in the music scene. Hell, he influenced one of my favorite guitar players, Tony Iommi. Unfortunately, a lot of it was his being part of a band and forgoing the guitar as the focus of the piece, given that he was a bandleader though, this makes sense. I'll come back to many of these tracks, but not the album as a whole. 

Info: It makes sense why there is so much violin player considering he spent a good chunk of his career playing violinist Stephane Grappelli. Django was born on January 23rd, 1910 in Belgium and died of a stroke on May 16th, 1953 at the age of 43 in France. His recording career was immense, and his impact on the world is inescapable. Part of his legacy is due to the fact that he performed all this music with two functioning fingers on his fretting hand after an accident rendered his ring and pinky fingers paralyzed. 

If you want to listen to some Django Reinhardt, you can check on out another compilation featuring many of these songs here. Additionally, if this sounds like your jam, you can pick up the above album here!