NEEDLE DROP: Django Reinhardt, Belleville

Django Reinhardt is one of my jazz idols, right up there in the pantheon with Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus. He's a quirky choice, being a gypsy from France and having two fingers on his fretting hand fused together in a fire. But Django was a breathtaking guitarist, playing his solos with such style and verve that I am hooked every time I listen.

More on Django later, but please enjoy "Belleville"...

NEEDLE DROP: Herb Ellis & Ray Brown, The Flintstones Theme

Would you guess that the theme to The Flintstones is a jazz standard?

This version is by an amazing gypsy jazz group called Sinti. Watch how insanely fast these guys can pick:



I've been looking forward to tackling gypsy jazz soon - Django Reinhardt is a personal hero. Soon!

The "Trad" Jazz Revival

In an earlier post, I talked about the tree of jazz history and its different branches. One of the more interesting moments when jazz sprouted off in different directions was the early 50s. Just as bebop was taking off, a movement spread across the country embracing Dixieland, or traditional (now "trad") jazz. Looking back, there's a strange racial aspect to it- this was music created and popularized by black musicians earlier in the century, and in the fifties it was a lily-white crew. It's a tradition that's carried on to this day, where outside of New Orleans its a very white, nostalgic style. This particular branch also seems like it's been pruned; no new Dixieland is ever written.



Nostalgic or not, the trad jazz revival of the late forties/early fifties produced some wonderful music. Edward "Kid" Ory was one of the stars of the genre- just listen to the way his trombone slides around on the outside of the melody. One of the things I love about this kind of music is how the instruments all have a raucous, solo expression of their own, but they overlap sinuously into harmonies. Listen to how the trumpet, clarinet and trombone literally tease and encourage each other. This is the heart of trad jazz.

Jazz and the Classics

When I was a little kid, my mom had both the "Hooked on Classics" and "Hooked on Swing" records. If you weren't a child of the 1970s, you might not be aware of this strange phenomenon. Basically, someone took a disco beat, stole only the hooks from any classical melody you probably learned from watching Bugs Bunny cartoons, and set them to a disco beat. Unfortunately for you, I was able to find it on YouTube (see above.)

I bring it up because of the Jacques Loussier Trio, a jazz group that I happen to enjoy but it could be argued are doing a similar thing. Put crudely, they're "jazzing up the classics," and Johann Sebastian Bach in particular. The difference here is, I think, in the loving treatment of the source material (Loussier seems to play the whole piece and always namechecks the original) and the specific character of Bach. Bach was a highly mathematical composer- his pieces are a study of harmony and precision, almost like a statement on music theory more than a musical expression. And yet somehow, they are so, so beautiful. I think Loussier manages to capture that beauty while still riffing with jazz rhythms and techniques. What do you think?