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A Belgian Who Never Waffles

Neil Hodgins | Windsor, Canada | 05/06/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"These recordings made by Django Reinhardt in Brussels in 1942 appear here for the first time on CD but they are also unique for other reasons. They are among the rarest of Django's studio performances, recorded secretly under the noses of the German occupying forces, who did not approve of jazz - nor indeed of gypsies. The Belgian "Rythme" label which organized the two sessions in April and May, 1942 was established in 1941 but it did not survive long after these recordings were made. Understandably under the circumstances, the sound quality was poor but sound engineer Bart Oranje restored the originals with loving care, knowing that the high quality of Django's solos was well worth the effort.Unique too are Tracks 5 ("Vous et Moi") and 7 ("Blues en Mineur") the only recordings of Django playing the violin, his original instrument, before a fire in his caravan left the last two fingers of his left hand paralyzed and forced him to turn to the guitar.Although he spent most of his life in France, Django was Belgian by birth and Track 1 ("Place de Brouckère") is his special tribute to Brussels. His return there was the idea of Belgian bandleader Fud Candrix and although the first 4 tracks were originally billed as played by "Django Reinhardt et son Grand Orchestre", it was actually the Fud Candrix band fronted by Django and a backing group of guitar bass and drums. Candrix s pianist Ivon de Bie accompanied Django in the remaining tracks of the April session.The May session was with the Stan Brenders Orchestra and featured new arrangements of Django's two most famous compositions. His "Django Rag" is based on "Tiger Rag" and "Divine Beguine" is of course simply a retitling of one of the top hits of the war years "Begin the Beguine".A great CD re-issue from the world's greatest jazz guitarist with a great history behind every note!"