Django Reinhardt and the Illustrated History of Gypsy Jazz

by Alain Antonietto, Michael Dregni

Overview

Django Reinhardt was perhaps the greatest guitarist to ever live. A Gypsy who made his jazz guitar speak with a human voice, he was dashing, charismatic, childish . . . and doomed to die young after creating a legacy of Gypsy Jazz that remains vibrant today.
 
Gypsy Jazz is a music both joyous and sad, timeless and modern. It was born from a marriage of Louis Armstrong’s trumpet with the anguished sound of Romany violin and the fire of flamenco guitar. Created amidst the glamour of Jazz Age Paris and reaching a peak during the horrors of World War II, Gypsy Jazz gave a voice to a dispossessed people. Today, Gypsy Jazz is more popular than ever. It has a legacy as strong as the Cuban sounds of the Buena Vista Social Club, the blues of B. B. King, or the R&B of Ray Charles.
 
Django Reinhardt and the Illustrated History of Gypsy Jazz is a stylish collection of more than two hundred illustrations telling Django’s story and the history of Gypsy jazz. Running through the Paris Jazz Age of the 1920s to the current worldwide renaissance of Gypsy jazz bands (including Django’s grandsons, who are playing today), the images include rare archival photographs, modern images, posters, programs, tickets, guitars, memorabilia, paintings, and more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781933108100
Publisher:	Fulcrum Publishing
Publication date:	11/01/2006
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Michael Dregni is the author of the New York Times bestseller Django: The Life and Music of a Gypsy Legend. He's also a guitarist struggling to play Django's music. A regular contributor to Vintage Guitar magazine, Dregni's writing has also appeared in Guitar Player and Acoustic Guitar magazines, as well as The Utne Reader and others. Alain Antonietto is the world's pioneering historian of jazz tsigane. He is the author of numerous articles on Romany music, a long-time contributor to La Revue Etudes Tsiganes, and producer of albums collecting rare Gypsy music. He is also the co-author of Django Reinhardt: Un géant sur son nuage and Django Reinhardt: Rythmes futurs.