Stephane Grappelli - Django (2002)

One of the greatest jazz violinists of all time, Stefan Grappelli (born and died in Paris, 26.01.08 – 01.12.97), along with Joe Venutti (Joe Venutti) and Staff Smith (Staff Smith) is included in the "big pre-bop troika" Who lived a long life, Grappelli, who was a long-liver in jazz, did a lot to so that the violin becomes a jazz instrument.Stefan was brought up in an orphanage. As a six-year-old boy, he began dancing in the troupe of Isadora Duncan. He mastered both the violin and the piano independently, despite the fact that in 1924-1928 he studied at the Paris Conservatory. Before meeting guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1933, Grappelli played in orchestras of traveling theaters and dance groups, earned money as a taper in cinemas and as a violinist of a salon orchestra. Listening to jazz records, he began to improvise, copying phrases from Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke and Art Tatum. "Tatum was my god," he said many years later, "I wanted to play the violin like he played the piano." The meeting of the two artists in 1933 immediately began to bear abundant musical fruits, despite the fact that the lifestyle of one of them was completely different from the lifestyle of the other (the Frenchman of Italian origin Grappelli was a refined nature, and the gypsy Django was a real son of nature). The head of the "Hot Club" Pierre Nourry offered them the idea of a string orchestra. Having created the "Quintet of the Hot Club of France" (1933-1939), which, in addition to them, included two more acoustic guitarists and a double bass player, Grappelli and Reinhardt made more than one series of recordings (Ultraphone, Decca and HMV) and performances, each of which was a sensation.The London engagement of 1939 was interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War. Reinhardt decided to return to France, while Grappelli stayed in England, effectively completing the band's tour. Soon, violinist and young pianist George Shearing created a new ensemble that existed throughout the war. In 1946, the first reunion of Grappelpi and Reinhardt followed, of which there were several, resulting in many new recordings (despite the fact that the musicians never collaborated on a permanent basis again).
In the 50s and 60s, Grappelli worked in clubs in Europe. In the USA, apart from recordings with Ellington (Violin Summit) and Venuti, until the 70s, when regular world tours of the violinist began, he remained virtually unknown. From that time on, Grappelli became a regular at jazz pools. He recorded records with Staff Smith (“Violins No End”, 1957), Svend Asmussen (“Two Of The Kind”, 1965 and “Violin Summit”, 1966), Joe Venuti (“Venupelli Blues", 1969), Barney Kessel (“Stephane Grappelli Meets Barney Kessel", 1969), Yehudi Menuhin ("Jelousy", 1973), Jean-Luc Ponty (“Stephane Grappelli And Jean-Luc Ponty”, 1973), etc. In the spring of 1974 he performed at Carnegie Hall in New York.Despite the progressive malaise, Stefan Grappelli remained active in 1989, generally recording a lot in the last three decades of his life. All of his early recordings have been reissued as part of the classic CD series. In 1997, French President Jacques Chirac awarded Grappelli the Legion of Honor.