"Stephane Grappelli - With and Without Django" - Paul Balmer - Sanctuary Publishing
"Jean 'Django' Reinhardt - A contextual bio-discography" - Paul Vernon - Ashgate Publishing

2003 promised some special material to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Django Reinhardt and so far we haven't been disappointed. Apart from the CDs - a wonderful 3 CD compilation on the SAGA label [France] containing some stunning photographs and Daniel Nevers Volume 17 of the Fremeaux series were both available ready for May 16^th - the two books reviewed here were a welcome addition to the published works which help us to understand more fully the life and works of Reinhardt. The Grappelli biography title hints at Stephane's life being split into two parts but the story, in its entirety, is a persuasive argument that Stephane was never free of the influence of Django. There were constant reminders throughout his life of his association with the great guitarist. But to begin at the beginning the first chapters deal with his Italian family background, his birth and early life in Paris. His early brief career as a dancer under the guidance of Isadora Duncan and how he learned his trade as a busker and silent movie musician are covered in depth from interviews with Stephane carried out by Paul Balmer who, incidentally was also responsible for the DVD, "Stephane Grappelli: A life in the Jazz Century". A large part of this book is devoted to the years that Stephane and Django played together as part of the Quintet of the Hot Club of France and stories, some old and some new, are told from Stephane's perspective, which sometimes differs slightly from that of Delaunay and some other biographers. There are some photographs of Django from the Grappelli collection which the reader may not have seen before and some photographs of the Ramirez guitar used by Django in 1932 and the 1940 Selmer Petite Bouche guitar with which he was photographed at Samois-sur-Seine in 1953. Both of these instruments now reside in the Paris Music Museum. The rest of the book deals with Stephane's struggle for recognition after the war and without Django. His long association with George Shearing and meetings with Ellington, Peterson, Venuti and Menuhin are all dealt with in detail. It tells of the meeting with Diz Disley who brought him back to prominence, playing once again in the Hot Club style. A succession of guitarists was to accompany him including John Etheridge, Ike Isaacs and Martin Taylor. All give background information on this exceptional musician and Balmer deals with some details of Stephanes private life in a very sensitive manner. Discographical information is mainly based on Grappelli's output without Django and is very thorough. This biography is a must have for both Grappelli and Reinhardt fans alike - a thoroughly good read!

The second book, "Jean 'Django' Reinhardt - A contextual bio-discography" by Paul Vernon is a very different approach to the traditional biography / discography. It is basically a very thorough discography of Reinhardt's work drawn from a variety of sources. He deals with every issued recording in much the same way as my own discography of Django in that he tells the reader where these recordings can be found NOW on CD, the medium of today as well as listing the original and Vinyl releases. In between the documentation of the recorded works he gives contextual information of Django's life and the events of the time. There are contemporaneous reviews of the recordings and concert performances. There are some interesting letters such as the one from The Gramophone Company in Hayes, Middlesex to their French counterparts requesting the very songs recorded at the April 1937 Paris sessions. There are chapters which cross reference the main listing with 78rpm, Vinyl, Cassette and CD releases as well as song titles. There is a 'Filmography', a catalogue of photographs, an index of artists who played on the recordings and much else to recommend the book to anyone with more than a passing interest in all things Django. The author has anticipated the final releases in the Fremeaux series of Double CDs allowing space for the insertion of these numbers by the reader. [We now know from other sources that there will be 20 Double CD sets including a CD of recordings which have come to light since FA301, such as "Bright Eyes" and the two "Chinatown" recordings from 1935]. You might have to dig a little deeper than usual to purchase this book but no fan of Django Reinhardt can afford to be without it. Thoroughly recommended!

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