Search - Stephane Grappelli :: Young Django

One Of Grappelli's Greatest

sheila finkelstein | Garden State Parkway, NJ | 12/22/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Lately the music of Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt has been appearing in movie soundtracks. For example, Minor Swing is in both Chocolat and as the lead track in the movie Town and Country. As a result people are rediscovering their music.If you are interested in exploring their music this CD is a wonderful place to start. It is a true classic and one of Grappelli's best. Stephane Grappelli was the king of the Jazz violin from his twenties till he died in his late 80's, a reign of over 60 years. He and Django Reinardt were the founders of the Quintet of the Hot Club of France, the most influential group in European Jazz history. Stephanes music has a wonderful joyful youthful exuberance, and he has improved as he has aged. On this album , he was only age 71, and he was in his prime. Here he teams up with Philip Catherine (young Django) and Larry Coryell on guitar, and Orsted-Peterson on bass. All of the tracks are good, all except 4 and 5 are great. All in all one of the greatest Jazz Violin albums ever. Highly Recommended."

The modern Grapelli

Solin | Mex | 03/28/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When Grappelli played with Django Reinhardt her music was a type of gipsy jazz (tsigane jazz) with a touch of euroasian music with rythm of fast waltz, but when Django died the music of Grappelli go more to the classical touch, with more perfection but with more improvisation. In the music of Grappelli there is some of the Oscar Peterson touch, Coleman Hawkins, Earl hines but some of Tchaikosvsky too. But in reality Grappelli is a modern player of the jazz violin. If you like the music this is a great cd of jazz music."

What sheer joy sounds like

Karah Stokes | Lexington, KY United States | 12/05/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you are a lover of any kind of acoustic music, you need to listen to this. Of course the guy was a virtuoso who played music until he was nearly ninety, if I remember correctly. Younger musicians who played with him said he was amazing and they learned incredible thigsn from playing with him. But more than that, in all that Stephane Grappelli played I hear the unmistakable sound of sheer joy.



I enjoy the more recent records Grappelli made in the 1970's-1990's with younger musicians [he also made a fantastic live one with David GRisman] because the sound quality and recording quality is a lot better."