The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #131239   Message #2958856
Posted By: GUEST,Neil D
05-Aug-10 - 12:27 PM
Thread Name: Review: Grapelli! Wow!
Subject: RE: Review: Grapelli! Wow!
George's story comparing Grapelli to Menuhin reminds me of a story I heard about Django meeting Segovia. Segovia asked Django to play something for him and Django complied. Segovia then asked where he could find the sheet music for the piece and Django told him there was none, he had just made it up on the spot. As the story goes, Segovia wept. I have no way of knowing if it's true, but it makes a cool story just the same.
   I too am a huge fan of Grapelli. My wife bought me a 4 CD set of Django mostly playing with the Hot Club Quintet of Paris, so of course there's plenty of Stephan on there as well. I don't know which of the two I like the best but together they were laying down the most memorable music of the swing era. It's said that touring American musicians who heard them in the 30's were humbled that these French guys had taken the American artform and made it so much their own. I'll have to get this movie if only for the 7 never-before-seen footage of the Hot club. Up till now there have only been a couple snippets of Django playing on film. Thanks for bringing it to our attention Uncle DaveO.