Battle of the Bands: Swingtime in Springtime

 It seems like a long time since the last Battle of the Bands. A good time to switch gears.  So first the original Django Reinhardt....

                                            

Below are the two competitors....

                                             Paul Mehling/Nate Ketner Quintet 

Reve Boheme

Next you let me know which ones you like best in the comments, I count them up and announce a winner usually in about a week or so. Okay at least before June.

Happy Birthday Django Reinhardt!

A year and a half ago I blogged about the 60th anniversary of Django Reinhardt's death. You can revisit that post here. Today I celebrate what would be Django's 105th birthday.

Here he performs "Minor Swing"

Again with this post I am celebrating his life and legacy while trying to make sure my musical celebrations don't repeat my previous post.

Below is a piece called "Star Dust"

I will rap this post up with one more tune "Belleville"

Thanks for visiting I hope you enjoyed some Django jazz!

Gone 60 years: Django Reinhardt

On this day in 1953 Django Reinhardt collapsed and died on his way home from a gig. He was the victim of a brain hemorrhage. He is considered to be one of the greatest guitarists to ever play the guitar. He died at the age of 43. Django left behind quite a musical legacy. Amazingly he only played his solos with two fingers on his fretting hand due to an injury that left his other fingers paralyzed. Maybe it is just a testimony to his incredible will to over come. The same accident had left his leg paralyzed. (It was a fire when he was 18) Django refused to let them amputate and he was walking, with a cane, within a year. Well enough of my rambling it is better to listen and watch his musical legacy...

Here he is with Duke Ellington.."Honeysuckle Rose"...

Here is someones list of best solos..remember he just uses two fingers,,,

Here he performs "Dark Eyes" in New York...

He did spend a lot of his youth living in Gypsy camps, so the Gypsy life influenced his music as well as he developed a gypsy jazz..

Here is Willie Nelson covering Django..

Remembering Django Reinhardt and celebrating his music, I will be back soon with a new post..