Auteur : Jean-Dominique Brierre
Editeur : Hors Collection
171 pages
17 cm x 23 cm
620 grammes
Photos noir et blanc
ISBN : 2258051215

The Third Reich in 4/4 time

By Mike Zwerin

PARIS, 2 October 2000 - Luftwaffe Oberleutenant Dietrich Schulz-Koehn walked along the railroad tracks near St. Nazaire with three other German officers. Four American officers came down the line towards them. Small arms fire could be heard in the distance.

The winter of 1944 was cold. The men danced and blew on their hands. The day was grey, like an old print of a black-and-white war movie... They had minor roles, this was a sideshow. The main theater of war had moved east to the Fatherland.

One hundred thousand German soldiers were cut off and worn out here on the Brittany coast. The Allies were prepared to starve them out, but civilians were starving too and the Red Cross arranged evacuation negotiations along these tracks, an hour a day for weeks now. The opposing sides had begun to fraternize. They took photographs of each other, and traded the prints.

Today, an African American officer who had been admiring Schulz-Koehn's Rollieflex asked: "How much do you want for that camera?"

"It's not for sale." The lanky, bespectacled German liked Americans,particularly African Americans. He was more than pleasant about it, but he liked his camera too.

"How about three cartons of Luckies and four pairs of nylons?"

 No. That was not enough. But as a matter of fact there was something. Why not ask? A few beats went by. The war was almost over anyway. Schulz-Koehn straightened up and adjusted his leather coat. There was nothing to be lost. It was worth a try: "Do you have any Count Basie records?"
 
 

..

Auteur : G. Smith
Editeur : Filipacchi Eds
ISBN : 2850183202

Auteur : S. Grappelli, J.M. Bramy
Editeur : Calmann-Levy
ISBN : 2702118550

Auteur :  Horricks, Raymond
1983  Stephane Grappelli. New York: Hippocrene.

Auteur : Y.M. Ajchenbaum
Editeur : Salhani Jean-Marie Eds
ISBN : 2911567013

a critic in french
This book is somewhat interesting for me because I've read so much about this period. As I was reading pages and pages, I was faced with an historian covering the "behind the scene". Who were the producers and the critics, what were they fighting about, what as their goal and personnal views...

This books covers the emergence of the Hot Clubs throughout France. I'm now totally familiar with Hugues Panassié, Charles Delaunay and all those actors that help built the French Jazz scene.

I haven't learn anything on Django but it is always good to get have the overall picture. Excellent work in itself if you want to understand who did what or against who in bringing Jazz to a larger audience.

All this to say, this is not a must but may prove useful for references...may be...

Auteur : Ludovic Tournès
Editeur : Fayard
501 pages
16 cm x 24 cm
ISBN : 2213603642

Django's Gipsy by Ian Cuickshank
(at Amazon)

Cruickshank, Ian
1995  Django's Gypsies: The mystique of Django Reinhardt and his people--A unique collection of photographs, illustrations, memorabilia and quotations. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Ashley Mark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Douze années de Jazz (1927-1938), Souvenirs by Hugues Panassié
Copyright 1946, Corrêa et cie, 160, Bd du Montparnasse, Paris XIVème
 

... 

So what is so special about this book ?
 

• Written in 1953 by one of France's pioneer jazz critics and producers.
• He was in touch with many great American jazzmen.
• One of his passions was to have American musicians record in combos or large bands that HE thought would sound great. Django was in many of them.
• He's one of the Hot Club de France founders. This is what makes the book interesting, he's a real insider.
• In this book he recalls all those years in which “real” jazz was being introduced to the French public.
• Lots of inside info. He's a strange critic, very radical sometimes. Some of his comments and remarks would not make it nowadays.

I'm reading it again these days (September 1999). I'll try to bring to this web page what is associated to Django in the book (as reference material).
• It is like a witness of the very first Quintet days...

p.131 - 133

Django and Grapelli meet Louis Armstrong at the café-restaurant au "Boudon". Django and Grapelli shows their admiration for this great musician.

p. 139 - 143

Les débuts du Quintette du Hot Club (November 1934)

The idea behind a string quartet then quintet, the rehearsing sessions at la boîte "Florence", the organizers (Charles Delaunay, Pierre Fouad and Guy Durand) behind the band,

"Je fus saisi par son incomparable virtuosité et l'abondance de ses idées dans l'improvisation, mais son langage si nouveau, sa personnalité si forte et si différente de celle de tous les autres musiciens de jazz, que je ne sentis pas du premier coup toute la beauté de sa musique."

 "Néanmoins, pendant plusieurs années, le Quintette n'eut qu'une existence éphémère : les cinqs musiciens qui le formaient ne se réunissaient que pour faire des disques, donner un concert, partir pour une tournée exceptionnelle; habituellement, chacun jouait de son côté dans un orchestre distinct.

to be continued...
 

Delaunay's Dilemma, de la peinture au Jazz by Charles Delaunay
Éditions W, domaine musical, directeur de publication françois bensignor 115 F. ISBN 2.86887.004.X
 

• I found this interesting "souvenirs" book at the music library of the University of Montréal
• The book includes a small section on Django Reinhardt but there are reference throughout the book because of the unique relation between Delaunay and Django

Histoire du monde en neuf guitares
Eirk Orsenna accompagné par Thierry Arnoult
One of the nine "fiction" stories is about Django fatal evening before the fire. Interesting finding like Django's wife first name...

Chesnel, Jacques
1994  Jazz under quarantine, 1940-46: Occupation and liberation. Cherbourg: Isoete.

Clama, Pierre
"Django Sur-Seini." .

Digard, Jean-Pierre
1999   "Entre le jazz et les gilia Django Reinhardt." L'Homme (149):203-208.

Gäßer, Hanno
1997 Stéphane Grappelli und die Musik des Quintette du Hot Club de France. In Die Musik der Sinti und Roma. A. Awosusi, ed. Pp. 85-99, Vol. Band 2: Der Sinti Jazz. Heidelburg: Schriftenreihe des Dokumentations- und Kulturzentrums Deutscher Sinti und Roma.

Schultheis, Jurgen
1995  Chronicle of Django's music: Chronology of the musical legacy of the jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. Berlin: Schultheis.

Schwab, Jürgen
1997 Die Jazzgitarre und ihre spezifischen Ausdrucksmittell bei Django Reinhardt. In Die Musik der Sinti und Roma. A. Awosusi, ed. Pp. 47-64, Vol. Band 2: Der Sinti Jazz. Heidelburg: Schriftenreihe des Dokumentations- und Kulturzentrums Deutscher Sinti und Roma.