Warning: I'm about to gush!

Last night my Beautiful Wife and I watched a 2003 movie, called Stephane Grappelli, a Life in the Jazz Century, which we got from NetFlix.

I'd heard for many years about the great jazz violinist, and even had (still have, somewhere) an LP of The Quintet of the Hot Club of France, featuring Grappelli and Django Reinhardt. But I had no idea of the virtuosity and creative drive of this great musician until I watched this wonderful musical biography.

This film covers his whole life, with interviews of Grappelli himself, Nigel Kennedy, Diz Disley, Yehudi Menuhin, and others--and even and more to the point, with generous film clips of many of his performances from the early days (I think in the 1920's) up into the late 90's. There are substantial clips of his performances with Kennedy, Reinhardt, Disley, Joe Vanuti, George Shearing, Menuhin, and others whose names escape me.

The blurb on the inner envelope from NetFlix says: "Legendary jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli tells his own story of a remarkable 77-year career in this glowing, heartfelt documentary. Features clips or tributes from such legends as Django Reinhardt, Yehudi Menuhin, George Shearing, the Paul Whiteman Orchestra and Bing Crosby and the Rhythm Boys. Also included is film footage of Django Reinhardt, including seven never-before-seen minutes of the Hot Club Quintet of France."

Frankly, I was blown away. Even in his eighties, when he had to sit down to perform, there he was, improvising freshly and creatively around the melody of the song in a driving, spectacular, and unbelievable way, and clearly having a ball doing it!

Two hours and eight minutes of absolutely wonderful musical artistry, and an insight into the life of a great and appealing artist!
See it! See it! See it! And of course Hear it! Hear it! Hear it!

Dave Oesterreich