This episode of The Buzz comes from the JJA archive. In 2010, Django Reinhardt's centennial year, the JJA's Jazz Matters series at The New School in New York presented a panel titled Jazz Scholarship: The Next Generation. It opened with guitarist Paul Brady, then a member of the Hot Club of Detroit, who had written his master's thesis on Django.

Brady argues that Django was, in his words, "in the truest sense, a jazz guitarist," and that writers spent too much time on the legend and too little on the playing. He builds the case from the records: Django landing on thirds and ninths in "Django's Tiger" before he had heard Dizzy Gillespie, the "Salt Peanuts" quote in "Babik," and voice leading in "Moppin' the Bride" that Charlie Parker would have recognized. Along the way he takes issue with Gunther Schuller's view that Django's style grew out of folk traditions, and he closes on two players who honor Django in their own voices, guitarist Biréli Lagrène and saxophonist James Carter.

In the Q&A that follows, moderator David Adler and Howard Mandel ask about Thelonious Monk, the soundtrack of Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown, and how Carter imitates Django's picking on the saxophone. Host Lawrence Peryer bookends the talk with a look at what has changed in the sixteen years since, from new research on Django's injured hand to Siv Lie's work with the Manouche musicians who play this music in France today.

Musical excerpts heard in this episode: Django Reinhardt, "Babik"; Django Reinhardt, "Moppin' the Bride"; Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, "Shaw 'Nuff"; Biréli Lagrène, "Coquette"; Biréli Lagrène, "Incertitude" (Electric Side, 2008); Django Reinhardt, "Diminishing"; James Carter, "Diminishing" (Heaven on Earth, 2009).

Buzzworthy Notes

Guest & Host

Discussed

Support for The JJA comes in part from the Jazz Foundation of America, providing emergency assistance, healthcare, and performance opportunities to performers, composers and others in need. Visit jazzfoundation.org.

This podcast is made possible with the support of Jazz Road, a national initiative of South Arts, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

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