Django: The Life and Music of a Gypsy Legend

Rating:
Summary: Much Light on a Rare Person
Review: A legend in guitar fans, Django's music is recognized everywhere as the soundtrack for Paris. It has been used in films from those of Woody Allen to "Something's Gotta Give," and most every jazz lover and guitar fan at at least one album by Django in their collection. While he is arguably the world's most influential guitarist, the details of his life have remained a mystery.

In this new book the author draws on hundreds of first person interviews with Django's family and friends. The result is a biography that is also the rich and fascinating story of the Roma people.

Django's life was truly different. Born on the roadside in a gypsy cravan, his life was a battle to overcome racism and poverty. Just as his career was getting started, he was nearly incinerated in a fire that left his left hand almost paralyzed. Learning to play with only two fingers, he quickly became the toast of Europe for his gypsy-influenced jazz.

Mr. Dregni has written a biography that is as reverant as it is enlightening.

Rating:
Summary: Where he came from
Review: Except for occasionally florid writing, this is an incredibly useful and accurate account for anyone who wants to know about Django's development. If you want to hear the early music he's writing about, check out the CD RARE DJANGO.

Rating:
Summary: for jazz enthusiasts!
Review: I approached this book with the intention of learning more about the mysterious Gypsy guitarist who could play phenomenally with only two useful fingers and his thumb on his fretting hand.

Instead, what I got was a very detailed, well-written account of Django Reinhardt the man and his part in the nascent French jazz scene, all nicely put in historical context of Europe during WWII.

Fans and historians of jazz are in for a real treat with this book. I had no idea of Django's relation to and influence by Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, among others.

Musical geniuses of this magnitude are often eccentric, and the author does a more than thorough job of pointing that fact out about Reinhardt. However, despite his phenomenal life and story, I admit that some of the very childish, self-centered, egotistical aspects of Reinhardt's personality made it very difficult to relate to or have sympathy for the man.

Still, all in all, this book is an interesting read. It isn't at all the kind of book that's going to make guitarists run out and practice, but it should be enthralling for jazz aficionados and history buffs.


Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Read
Review: I'm always wary of books written about musicians by other musicians. I got this as a gift and expected a lot of worshipful prose about Django Reinhardt. Instead, I was delighted to find a very well-researched history which afforded Reinhardt the great respect he deserves as an innovative jazz musician, but doesn't patronize or idolize Django the person. What emerges is a good sense of Django as both a player and a man. This history of Gypsy jazz and the styles that influenced it have led me to new apprecation of recordings by players like Angelo DeBarre and even some of the Chopin Waltzes that were infleunced by the musette tradition. There's a whole side to Gyspy music that is not as obvious or as well-known as Django's jazz influences. For anyone, especially a guitarist, interested in this kind of music, this book will make an excellent addition to your library.

My only requests would be a list of sources for in-print recordings of some of the artists who were also mentioned in the book, like Baro Ferret who accompanied Django on many recordings but was apparently a virtuosic solist himself, and perhaps a few more pictures beyond the small but fascinating selection included.

Overall, this is a great piece of well-written research that will do a lot to encourage and preserve a very special musical tradition.

Rating:
Summary: A book long overdue
Review: In this book, Michael Dregni has done a wonderful job of putting the pieces together to tell the story of one of jazz history's most enigmatic, influential and inspired musicians. Usually, a critical look at a musician has to contend only with the prejudice and exaggeration of hearsay and legend, but in this book Dregni has also been confronted by the culture of shadows and secrets inhabited by the gipsies of Europe, no doubt making the process of connecting the dots of Django Reinhardt's story much more difficult. Gladly, he has done a marvelous job. The evocative prose succeeds in painting a picture not just of a life but of a time and place, equal parts romantic and real, that leaves the reader with an appreciation of what a truly remarkable man Django Reinhardt was and what a truly remarkable time it was in which he lived. Occasionally the book reminded me of a Jeunet film, an amber-hued voyage through a funhouse of dark corners, gypsy gangsters and cobblestones, all to the strains of an accordion heard through the rough doors of a bal-musette. Placed squarely in the the middle of such a milieu, Django emerges as a complex genius, his flights of musical inspiration bound by vanity and his artistic sophistication tempered by a childlike impetuousness and naivete'. Dregni thankfully does not allow his subject to dodge the dimmer aspects of the spotlight, painting a very human portrait of a man equally unreliable, duplicitous and vain yet devoted, sentimental and generous. Full flight is also given to Django's etherial magic-trick genius which resulted in, at times, perfect examples of inspired expression within the worldly context of a high art. There are many important reasons for Django Reinhardt's enormous influence on music (and jazz in particular), likewise for the legends and stories that surround both him and his surviving legacy, and I feel that this book does a wonderful job putting them into context for us. What an enjoyable and inspiring read.

Rating:
Summary: Dregni dissappoints
Review: Like all guitar players, I was excited when this book came out. In fact, I bought it hardcover for $30 at a local bookstore. When I got home, I dove in...more like fell into an overly-comlicated, wordy, and mostly speculated work. I read through so frustrated that a writer could do all this research and then write THIS! Dregni writes in detail about the fierce stares in photographs, and makes baseless hypostheses on characters, yet mulls over other details.

Still, this will undoubtedly become the bible for Gypsy Jazz fans because of it's inclusiveness. Don't be fooled by the hype. This is a bad book full of great information.

Rating:
Summary: Long Overdue
Review: Michael Dregni's new biography is a thoroughly researched, erudite study that, for the most part, is a pleasure to read. Dregni's vocabulary is impressive, if not at times clinical, and his descriptions of Django's playing and jazz music in general, that is, what it sounds like and what it feels like to listen to, are quite wonderful. There are few things harder than describing in words what great music sounds like and though Dregni may at times be too in love with his subject to write an even, critical biography, he's achieved something worthwhile. He traces Django's beginnings and gives an overview of Gypsy culture which pays dividends as the work progresses as Django, throughout his life, always stayed true to his humble gypsy roots--always preferring a simple domestic existence, sparkled by flashes of high culture and high society that his flirtations with riches often afforded him, and understanding gypsy ways helps keep Django's unusual life in context. Dregni's book is a far more readable and complete study of this fascinating musical genius than Delaunay's prior hagiographic book, the only other semi-seriouis study to date, and I can highly recommend it to music lovers, but probably more specifically, to Django lovers--of which there are legions--everywhere.

Rating:
Summary: Django Lives!!!
Review: Wonderful book filled with information that could only have been written by someone who loved Django and his music. Brought back many memories for me.