Guitar Noise » Colette Dumont

Jean Baptiste Django Reinhardt: Gypsy Genius

Colette Dumont — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 08:00:23 +0000

Django (pronounced zhan (long “a”) – go) Reinhardt grew up in a gypsy culture that held medieval beliefs such as distrust in science. He was born into a tribe that roamed the countryside until they established themselves near Old Paris, when he was eight. Imagine a camp with dogs and children playing, chicken simmering in campfire pots, the music of accordions, banjos, and violins dancing through the air, women in long dresses and curls, the men in stripped waistcoats donning moustaches. The caravans, large covered (and usually horse-drawn) vehicles, doubled as both family dwelling and transportation.

His tribe assimilated into the Manouches, which are the local Romani groups of France. From the gathered cultural and linguistic evidence, it has been ascertained that his people probably originally came from Roma, which is now part of southeast Pakistan.

Django was born January 23, 1910 in Lieberchies, Belgium. He always liked music and got his first banjo/guitar at age twelve. This instrument has six strings and is tuned to standard guitar tuning. He started his career in music at age thirteen, playing at a dance hall on the Rue Monge, with Guerino an accordionist.

His first recordings were made at the Ideal Company with accordionist Jean Vaissade.

He accompanied Coleman Hawkins on the recording of Stardust in 1935. Ultraphone recorded the first sides of the Quinette, which included Dinah, Tiger Rag, Oh Lady Be Good, and I Saw Stars. In 1937, he recorded Chicago with the Quinette.

In 1928, some celluloid flowers his wife had made caught on fire in their caravan. In the fire, Reinhardt suffered a badly burned left hand. His right leg was seriously burned, as well. The third and fourth fingers of his fretting hand didn’t heal well and were basically paralyzed as the tendons had shrunk.

His mother stayed with him during his recuperation, which lasted a year and a half. She would ask him what he thought about and he always answered, about his hand. His brother, Joseph, bought him a new guitar in an oilcloth case. Reinhardt overcame his great disability; he retrained his hand to make chords and notes, by fashioning his own method. The early thirties saw him back pursuing his musical career at an increased pace.

By 1931 Reinhardt and his brother struck out for Côte d’Azur, living the romantic troubadour’s life, camping on beaches. During their travels they met the painter and photographer, Emile Savitry, who gave them lodging at his home. Savitry, according to EMI France Djangology, played for the brothers some of the first jazz records to come to France. Louis Armstrong’s rendition of Dallas Blues really impressed Django and he eagerly delved into jazz.

Around 1932, he returned to Paris and explored new sounds at Cuban and West Indies clubs; he’d already absorbed the music of czardas, tangos, and musette waltzes and had found jazz.

In 1934, Reinhardt and violinist Stephen Grappeli were among fourteen musicians playing at the Hotel Cambridge at teatime. In a moment of serendipity, Reinhardt and Grappeli started jamming in the dressing room, with Lois Vola on bass and brother Joseph playing second guitar. They formed the ensemble Quinetette du Hot Club de France. Roger Chaput and Pierre Ferret variously played rhythm guitar in place of Django’s brother Joseph. Some say the concept of lead and rhythm guitar in a band was started with their group. The group had no drummer, so the second guitarist often used their instruments as percussion instruments. Perhaps their work was a forerunner of jazz and funk comping to come later that century.

After the Hot Club’s first concert in February 1934, the magazine Jazz-Tango wrote of Django, “He is a curious musician, whose style is like no other we know. We now have a great improviser in Paris.”

He was inspired by Louis Armstrong, Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie. Before this, in the Roaring Twenties, he had heard Billy Arnold’s Novelty Jazz Band at the Abbaye de Thélème in Pigalle.

He was an ingenious composer, and innovator, and improviser. He hailed from a musical tradition that embellished its playing with appoggiaturas, chromatic passages, and arpeggios. Improvisation naturally flowed from his fingers.

When WW II began, the group was touring in England. Reinhardt quickly returned to France while Grappelli stayed in England. The quintet continued to play with Hurbert Rostaing on clarinet replacing Grappeli. During the German Occupation of Paris, jazz (American music) was forbidden as it stood for freedom, but swing was allowed, according to Dregni in “Django Reinhardt and the Illustrated History Of Jazz.” Dregni also chronicles that, as the German Occupation worsened, Reingardt did try to escape through the Swiss border but was turned back.

In 1946, a reunited Reinhardt and Grappeli opened for Duke Ellington. This was the first time Django played electric guitar. He usually played an acoustic Selmer-Maccafferi. Also, in that year, Django and Andre Hodeir composed the music to the movie Le Village de la Colere, in addition to touring Switzerland.

During his latter years, Reinhardt started a quintet that was skilled in bebop. David Rickett of allaboutjazz.com says that “He had integrated his love for bebop into his playing and compositions, and all of the songs here (Keep Cool: Guitar Solos 1950-53) sound like much of what would come out of the States from ’50’s guitar players like Barney Kessel and Herb Ellis.

Many artists have appreciated Reindhardt ’s music and ability such as Julian Bream (classical guitarist), Chet Atkins (country), Carlos Santana (rock), B.B. King (blues), Jerry Garcia (rock/blue grass), Tony Iommi, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Mark Knopfler, Les Paul, Joe Pass, Willie Nelson and the list continues. In 2002 Wille Nelson wore a Django Reinhardt t-shirt on tour in Europe. It is thought that Jimi Hendrix named his “Band of Gypsys” after Django’s heritage. Dickey Betts. (Allman Brothers) wrote Jessica to write a song that could be played with two fingers because of his admiration for Reinhardt.

Jean Cocteau sums up the Reinhardt mystique:

“His soul was ambulant and saintly; and his rhythms were his own as the tiger his stripes, as his phosphorescence and his mustache. He lived within his skin. He rendered it royal and invisible to the hunter.”

He retired to Samois sur Seine. Reinhardt died of a massive brain hemorrhage on May 16, 1953. He was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1984.

References:

Other Sites of Interest

Articles

http://www.nytimes.com

Audio

http://www.pbs.org/jazz/biography/artist_id_reinhardt_django.htm

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Tab

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Judy Collins – Biography of a Child Prodigy

Colette Dumont — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 08:00:17 +0000

Judith Marjorie Collins was born May 1, 1939, in Seattle, Washington. The music of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and the early sixties folk revival generated her intense interest in folk music and emphasized the importance of lyrics. As a folk artist in her own right, she recorded songs by Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Phil Ochs, John Lennon, and Randy Newman. Collins’ musical endeavors have ranged from folk to pop-rock to standards to Broadway ballads.

She studied classical piano with Antonia Brico and made her public debut, with the Denver Symphony, playing Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos at age 13. Collins, the child prodigy, started playing guitar 3 years after her piano debut.

In 1959, she played in a small club in Colorado, where Bob Dylan came to see her. This gig led to more success and she later migrated to Greenwich Village. In 1961, Eletkra Records signed her, which began a thirty-five year association. Recording her first album, Maid of Constant Sorrow in that same year, this prolific artist has recorded an album almost every year thereafter. In 1966, she received a gold record award for In My Life, the first of many gold and platinum awards.

She started recording her own songs on her 1967 album, Wildflowers. Her first composition was “Since You’ve Asked.” Leonard Cohen had influenced her to write her own music. Her first major hit “Both Sides Now,” included on Wildflowers, was a composition by singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. This album won a Grammy award and her hit single soared to #8 on Billboard.

The 1967 Oscar nominated documentary Festival included Judy Collins along with Donovan, Baez, Dylan, and others. Collins made the album Who Knows Where the Time Goes in 1968, which Stephen Stills, a member of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, produced. She is the “Judy” of Stills’ song “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.”

Collins is multi-talented and uses her varied abilities on albums like Who Knows Where the Time Goes (1968) on which she plays guitar, keyboards, and electric piano. She is also known for producing.

The NY Times once described her voice as “a voice of liquid silver.” Her version of “Send in the Clowns,” a ballad written by Stephen Sondheim for the Broadway musical A Little Night Music, won the 1975 Grammy award for “Song of the Year.” This recording, as well her recording of the gospel hymn “Amazing Grace,” were top 20 hit singles.

Also, in 1975 Collins was nominated for an Oscar for being co-director of Antonia: a Portrait of a Woman, a film about her piano teacher and conductor Antonia Brico. She was a contemporary inductee for the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame in 2006.

Renown for her activism, Collins gave the Baccalaureate address at Hobart and William Smith Colleges May 11, 2002 and she received an honorary degree May 12, 2002. A news release by the same colleges stated that Collins “was selected as the Baccalaureate speaker largely for her activism over the years in the aid of others.” She participated in the 1964 Freedom Marches in Mississippi and was a political activist during the Viet Nam War. In song, she protested against a war she saw thought unjust (Dylan’s “Masters of War”) and she honored those that fought as in her ode to Korean War veterans (“Walls”). Collins always poignantly portrays her cause.

In the fall of 2001 Collins appeared on “Larry King Live” and performed “Amazing Grace” as a tribute to the courageous firefighters and volunteers of 9/11. She has been a representative for UNICEF since 1994 and promotes landmine awareness. She wrote “Song for Sarajevo.” Subsequently, she made goodwill treks to Bosnia and Vietnam.

Collins has influenced music and social awareness for decades and undoubtedly isn’t finished yet.

References:

Other Sites (and Items) of Interest:

Original Vinyl Records
Albums – Out of print 30 years, released again in 2001: A Maid of Constant Sorrow (1961) and Golden Apples of the Sun (1962).
Corporate Event Bookings
Concert Dates for folk artists, CD’s, Open Mic etc.: Collins: Album: Forever: Song: A Maid of Constant Sorrow: Release: 10/28/97 http://www.folkalley.com/music/song.php?song=3758

Legendary House – Some Notes on The House of the Rising Sun

Colette Dumont — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 08:00:36 +0000

This song’s archaic roots are traced back to England in the 1700’s; where its melody is associated with several British folk songs including, Lord Bernard and Little Musgrove. Two British folk songs name “Risin’ Sun” as houses of ill-repute. It is an old symbol in England for prostitution, carried over to America, and popularized as such in southern ballads.

Three houses in New Orleans, in particular, claim to be the “house”- the first, a hotel on Conti St. in the 1820’s. Evidence surfaced in 2005, from an excavation and research, that unearthed an ad for this house that alluded to prostitution.

A guidebook called Offbeat New Orleans places the second house at 826-830 Louis St. between the years of 1862-1864. According to www.straightdope.com, the building was supposedly named after its madam Marianne LeSolei Levant. Her surname translates to “The Rising Sun.”

The third, Rising Sun Hall along the riverfront in the uptown Carrollton neighborhood during the late 19th Century, where meetings of a Social Aid and Pleasure Club were held, as well as dances and functions. The Conti St. house and “Rising Sun Hall” are listed in old period directories.

Dave van Ronk wrote in his autobiography that he had seen photos of the old New Orleans Prison for Women, and over the entrance he saw a design of a Risin’ Sun. Thus, some believe that the ballad is about a young girl who goes to prison. Others think she ended up as a “lady of the night.”

Clarence Ashley and Gwen Foster released a recording in 1934 that is considered the earliest existing record of the song. There is a dispute that says Texas Alexander’s was the first, but some scholars state it was a completely different song entitled “Risin’ Sun” recorded in 1928.

Roy Acuff recorded it in 1938, probably learning the song from other Smokey Mountain artists.

The traditional lyrics were written by Kentuckians Georgia Turner (a miner’s daughter) and Bert Martin. Folklorist Alan Lomax, in his 1941 germinal work Our Singing Country, reports writing the lyrics down as Georgia sang. He added them to his songbook. The older lyrics were written in a feminine viewpoint, warning about coupling your friendship with a drunk and or gambling man, thus ruining your life, though male artists recorded the song early on. A popular version from the 1930s was recorded by Leadbelly, who added ambiguity to the lyrics by changing the gender of the singer. (wikipedia)

But Eric Burton and The Animals shortened the lyrics and gave them a masculine perspective in 1964 that warned about drinking and gambling. They used the arrangement written by Dave van Ronk that Dylan used before them (this is according to Martin Scorsese, who did the bipic for the Dylan album No Direction Home). It is said that The Animals actually learned the song from Nina Simone. In 2006 Shawn Mullins released 9th Ward Pickin Parlor, performing a powerful rendition from the original female perspective of the lyrics.

The Charlie Daniels band makes a reference to “House of the Rising Sun” in their song the Devil Went Down to Georgia (“…the devil’s in the house of the rising sun…”). Also, there are French, Finnish, and Catalan versions. An alternate name for the song is “Rising Sun Blues.”

Some of the artist that covered the song includes:

The Adolescents
Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Gerry and the Pacemakers
Joan Baez
The Be Good Tanyas
Eric Bibb & Cyndee Peters
Blind Boys of Alabama (as ‘Amazing Grace’)
Bon Jovi
The Brothers Four
Cody C & J.R.
Johnny Cash
David Allen Coe
Bob Dylan (as part of his self-titled debut album)
The Eagles
Tommy Emmanuel
EverEve
Marianne Faithfull
Frijid Pink
Woody Guthrie
Wyclef Jean et Les Portes du Pen
Waylon Jennings
Brian Johnson
Sammy Kaye
B.B. King and Mary Travers
Mark Knopfler
Kult
La Renga
Leadbelly
Led Zeppelin
Courtney Love
Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power)
Ronnie Milsap
Roger McGuinn
Muse
Mark O’Conner
Sinéad O’Connor
Odetta
John Otway
Oysterhead
Dolly Parton
The Platters
Pink Floyd
Rockapella
The Rolling Stones
Dave van Ronk
Santa Esmeralda
Pete Seeger
Sentenced
Nina Simone
Tangerine Dream
Toto
Tracy Chapman
The Ventures
Doc Watson & Richard Watson
The Weavers
The White Stripes
Josh White
Demis Roussos
Jimi Hendrix
Grateful Dead
Conway Twitty
Shawn Mullins
Guster
The Street Walkers
Tim O’Brien

The traditional lyrics, as recorded by Lomax, are as follows:

There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun.
It’s been the ruin of many a poor girl,
And me, O God, for one.
If I had listened what Mamma said,
I’d ‘a’ been at home today.
Being so young and foolish, poor boy,
Let a rambler lead me astray.
Go tell my baby sister
Never do like I have done
To shun that house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun.
My mother she’s a tailor;
She sold those new blue jeans.
My sweetheart, he’s a drunkard, Lord, Lord,
Drinks down in New Orleans.
The only thing a drunkard needs
Is a suitcase and a trunk.
The only time he’s satisfied
Is when he’s on a drunk.
Fills his glasses to the brim,
Passes them around
Only pleasure he gets out of life
Is hoboin’ from town to town.
One foot is on the platform
And the other one on the train.
I’m going back to New Orleans
To wear that ball and chain.
Going back to New Orleans,
My race is almost run.
Going back to spend the rest of my days
Beneath that Rising Sun.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_the_Rising_Sun

Traditional Lyrics (another version)

There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
Its been the ruin of many a poor girl
And me, Oh Lord! Was one
My mother was a tailor,
She sewed them new blue jeans.
My lover, he was a gambler, Oh Lord,
Gambled down in New Orleans.
My lover, he was a gambling man,
He went from town to town;
And the only time he was satisfied
Was when he drank his liquor down.
Now the only thing a gambling man needs
Is a suitcase and a trunk;
And the only time he’s satisfied
Is when he’s on a drunk.
If I’d only list’nd when my dear mamma said:
Beware, my child, when you roam,
Keep away from drunkards and all those gambling men,
It’s best by far to come home.
Go tell my baby sister
Never do like I have done
But to shun that house in New Orleans
That they call the Rising Sun.
With one foot on the platform,
And one foot on the train
I’m going back to New Orleans
To wear the ball and chain..
I’m going back to New Orleans
The race is almost run;
I’m going back to spend the rest of my life.

http://www.risingconviction.com/

Alternate Lyrics

There is a house in New Orleans
It’s called the Rising Sun.
And it’s been the ruin
Of many young boys
In God, I know I’m one.
My mother was a tailor,
She sewed my new blue jeans.
My father was a gambling man,
Down in New Orleans.
And the only thing that a gambler needs
Is a suitcase and a trunk.
And the only time he’s satisfied
Is when he is on that drunk.
Oh mother, tell your children
Not to do what I have done.
Spend your life in sin and misery
In the House of the Rising Sun.
With one foot on the platform,
Got my fist upon the stage.
Yea I’m going back to New Orleans
To wear that ball and chain.
That’s alright.
It’s only alright.

http://www.risingconviction.com/

References:

A Giant Guitarist To Note – A Brief Profile of Memphis Minnie

Colette Dumont — Wed, 25 May 2005 08:00:00 +0000

Memphis Minnie’s real name was Lizzie Douglas, birthed as the first born of thirteen children to Abe and Gertrude Douglas in Algiers, Louisiana on June 3, 1897. She and her family, relocated to Walls, Mississippi, just south of Memphis, when she was about seven years old, in 1904.

For Christmas in 1905 she received a guitar and swiftly learned how to play it, plus the banjo. She performed at local parties using “Kid Douglas” as her stage name. Lizzie ran away from home to play at Church’s Park for tips as a young teenager. She joined Ringling Brothers Circus and toured the South in the WWI era.

She returned to Memphis in the 20’s and its Beale Street blues scene, being discovered there by a Columbia Records talent scout in 1929, thus recording in the later part of the year as Memphis Minnie.

Accompanied by her second husband, guitarist Kansas Joe McCoy, her first song, Bumble Bee was a success. She recorded over one hundred sides before retiring in the late nineteen fifties. She composed hundreds of songs, numbered among them are Hoodoo Lady, I Want Something for You, Hole in the Wall, and Bumble Bee, which Muddy Waters later recorded as Honey Bee.

Her recording career lived through the various changes in the “blues style” for thirty years. Memphis Minnie swayed and impressed many important blues performers: Chuck Berry, Johnny Shines, Big Mama Thornton, and others.

In 1930, Minnie and Kansas Joe migrated to Chicago, where they speedily became part of the city’s expanding, blues scene. Minnie, Tampa Red, and Big Bill helped popularize the country blues style in an urban setting. In about twenty-five years, Minnie recorded for a number of labels, which included Vocalion, Decca, and Bluebird, and with talented blues men like Sunnyland Slim and Little Walter. For her recording sessions, Minnie employed a small combo or had a second guitarist accompany her.

Her health declined in 1958, which induced Minnie’s return to Memphis and retirement from performing and recording. She spent her latter years in a nursing home, where she died of a stroke in 1973. She is buried in New Hope Cemetery in Walls, Mississippi.

Memphis Minnie was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame in 1980, as one of the first twenty inductees picked in the inaugural W.C. Handy awards.

For more information on this unsung guitar heroine, you can use the following references:

Nothing But the Blues: The Music and the Musician
Lawrence Cohn, Editor
New York: Abbeville Publishing Group, 1993.

Liner Notes. Memphis Minnie: Hoodoo Lady (1933-1937)
Paul Garon, author
Columbia, 1991.

Woman With Guitar: Memphis Minnie’s Blues
Paul Garon and Beth Garon
New York: Da Capo Publishing, 1992.

The Big Book of Blues
Santelli, Robert
New York, NY: Penguin Publishing, 1993.

Websites:

The African American Registry
Lea Gilmore’s – It’s A Girl Thang! – Memphis Minnie
Lizzie “Kid” Douglas, “Memphis Minnie” – Memphis School
Southern Music in the 20th Century, Memphis Minnie
National Park Service. Trail of the Hellhound: Delta Blues in the Lower Mississippi Valley: Sites Along the Trail of the Hellhound: Delta Sites: People: Memphis Minnie: Lizzie “Kid” Douglas, “Memphis Minnie” – Memphis School

Guitar Noise » Colette Dumont

Jean Baptiste Django Reinhardt: Gypsy Genius

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Judy Collins – Biography of a Child Prodigy

References:

Other Sites (and Items) of Interest:

Legendary House – Some Notes on The House of the Rising Sun

A Giant Guitarist To Note – A Brief Profile of Memphis Minnie

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