VA - Imagine Django (2023)

To salute his memory and celebrate the eternal youth of Django Reinhardt's music 70 years after his death, Label Ouest called on artists of all generations and from all walks of life, inviting them to "imagine" Django. “Imagine Django” was released on March 8.

If, by its eternal freshness, the art of Django continues to inspire many musicians around the world, guitarists often find themselves in the front line. Both inside and outside this perspective, Philip Catherine occupies a unique place. From the height of his eighties, the master of the European jazz guitar inherited from his illustrious predecessor a keen sense of lyricism and a pronounced taste for melody, which, thanks to an unprecedented reinterpretation of Crépuscule, gives the tone, while leading the way. Let's imagine the guitar... The contributions of the direct descendants of the Reinhardt family: the grandson, David (guest of Noé Reinhardt and Samy Daussat, for the Reinhardt Memories project), and two of Django's great-grandsons – Lévis Reinhardt and Simba Baumgartner –, mark the tempo here, just like those of the representatives of the new generation of six-strings. Four of them, among the most brilliant (Antoine Boyer, Adrien Moignard, Samuelito and Gwen Cahue), have also agreed to collectively pay homage to the master, through an anthology version of My Serenade, which comes to close in style. this album.

Celebrated in the most beautiful way, the guitar is however not the only one to be honoured, since pianists (Baptiste Bailly, Gerardo Jerez Le Cam, Clément Simon, Arnault Frachet), accordionists (Didier Ithursarry, Cordeone), violinists , violists and cellists (David Gaillard, Marian Iacob Maciuca, Tomoko Katsura…), double bassists (Diego Imbert, Simon Mary, William Brunard, Sébastien Gastine…) and blowers (via Geoffroy Tamisier's trumpet, Olivier Derbesse's clarinet or the Vincent Bucher's harmonica) were also invited to the party, either personally or under the banner of established formations (Lagrimas Azules, Krystal Mundi, David Gastine Quartet, etc.).