 |
| Festival program |
American Overrepresentation
It was made
clear from the beginning that the intent of Pananssié was to implement an American show, and as a consequence well
known Frenchmen were missing. Think of musicians like Alix Combelle and André
Ekyan, but also others. The only French contribution was the orchestra
of Claude Luter, known for playing
in the New Orleans tradition, greatly admired by Pananssié.
The
co-organizers had a disagreement about the lack of French participation, but at
the last minute was then decided to have Django
Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli to join with their quintet as co-representatives of the French jazz .They would
be on stage at the final on February 28th in the large ballroom at hotel Negresco, and the concert would be broadcasted by the RDF in the program "Nuit de Jazz”'.
The musicians had to travel in haste by train from Paris to Nice.
Django was
actually proud to participate in this international festival that presented so
many Americans. The proof is that he later launched a composition with the
appropriate title "Festival 48".
The Egos of the Two Star-soloists
Their performance
would, however, be determined and no success ... the atmosphere between the two
soloists was tense. There was still some rivalry between the two men which
manifested itself in this festival again.
Django was in 1947 in top form. After his
unsuccessful American tour he had fully recovered and was again asked for everywhere. Also in terms of recording it was a successful year in which he
released several new compositions and played with various musicians in the
studio. The guitarist made nearly 120 recordings, as I said, in many
combinations.
What Stéphane concerned, we must remember
that he was in England at the beginning of the war. In England he performed
everywhere and often with respected musicians like the pianists Arthur
Young and George Shearing. He had become well known as a violinist and
entertainer.
The two
soloists were aiming to perform at this festival as major European jazz artists.
They had thereby as accompaniment Joseph
Reinhardt, Challin Ferret on
guitar and Emmanuel Soudieux on
double bass, so more or less a formation as in earlier times
Although at
the beginning of the festival they still had some hilarious moments (see photo
above shot during their arrival at the station), the mood inside was later
determined tense.
A Lukewarm Reception
After the announcement
of the Hot Club Quintet followed
only a meager applause from the audience. This increased the tension between
the musicians and especially Django was irritated. He wanted to hear that he
was still the greatest guitarist. But Grappelli wanted to take the lead.
Unfortunately,
it is unknown to me what repertoire was performed by the quintet on 28th of
February, but there are preserved some private recordings (adapted from the radio),
although of poor quality. The tunes are "Swing '42" and "Nuages".
A rare and actually a historical document!
First is
heard that Django plays an electric guitar and Stéphane is too far from the
microphone. Everything sounds rough and you feel a certain coldness between the musicians. We
hear the countdown and then a strained Django, almost hesitantly, in "Swing '42". Because the
guitar sounds much louder than the violin, the beginning is not a very
harmonious duet. Django's solo sometimes exhibits bebop traits. Stéphane is in
his improvisations too weak to be heard and does not seem stride. The ride off
(twice the final strain of the melody) proceeds remarkable because Stéphane no
longer is to be heard the second time through. Next follows an announcement of
"Nuages" where the violin
is barely audible and Django only comes to terms quite late. During the guitar
solo there is a lot of buzz in the room. Then a few inspired solos by Grappelli
accompanied by rough, almost violent chords from the guitar. The performance leaves
an imperfect impression, not as in former times, and bad amplification worsens
the audible output.
The
reaction of the audience was significant. A barely audible applause was their
lot and that was it! Afterwards Django's face showed some traces of despair, it
was noted. The media were extremely critical and ruled that the quintet just repeated
old routines and thus was not modern enough. Likewise ruled Boris Vian, who had been enthusiastic about the formation of the quintet in the
past. He wrote in "Jazz Hot" that the guitarist was still the same
and little had evolved in his playing!
All in all,
a stark contrast to the traditional bands which received praise from the entire
press that wrote plenty about American bands and particularly "Luter
& ses Lorientais" was praised.
Yet the event still took a somewhat favorable turn for
Django. He did the early hours participating in plenty of jam sessions of
Americans including Louis Armstrong.
Further Setbacks and Restated Style Adaptation
Back in
Paris, on March 10th at Studio Pelouze the quintet made a series of recordings,
which can be said containing interesting titles, including the new composition "Festival 48". And there is
certainly already a more modern style conception.
Then the
musicians departed for England to give a concert in Hackney. But .... their
instruments and personal belongings were stolen from the hotel. The rhythm
section left them and was in a hurry replaced by English musicians. Django was
pretty stoic during these events; Stéphane immediately bought himself a
secondhand suit.
Their
performance went significantly better than in Nice, which emerged from a review
by the well-known magazine "Melody Maker". It reported that Django
took everyone by surprise with very particular guitar playing and there were
further bebop influences to be heard in Stéphane's improvisations.
Cautious Conclusion
Perhaps
Dizzy's presence as well as the influence from other Americans in Nice had an effect
on the quintet? The Jazz Festival in 1948 could therefore be considered as a
(small) milestone for the quintet.
 |
| Hugues Panassié |
And last,
in the Hot Club de France
organization came not long after the festival a final break between Charles Delaunay and Hugues Panassié, as Panassié kept focus
exclusively on traditional jazz.
Georg Lankester
---
Jo
keepitswinging.domain@gmail.com
Retrospect
Keep Swinging (old)
Oscar Aleman Choro Music Flexible Records Hit of the Week-Durium Friends of the Keep Swinging blog Keep Swinging Contributions
No comments:
Post a Comment