“Django Reinhardt was the first guitar virtuoso,” Mehling says from the stage of the McGlohon Theater in Charlotte, North Carolina. On this unseasonably warm January night, Mehling’s Hot Club of San Francisco is transporting the audience to a smoky Parisian nightclub from a bygone era.
Rhythm guitarist and vocalist Isabelle Fontaine sets the scene. “It’s 1941,” she says. “Django and the quintet play a song no one has ever heard before, a tune Reinhardt wrote for this occasion. After the number is done, silence fills the room. It is followed by thunderous applause. The audience demands that the band play the song again. Then they demand it a third time. Each time, the reception grows louder, and more enthusiastic.”
The Hot Club of San Francisco then launches into “Nuages (Clouds).” Reinhardt’s best-known composition, after World War II the tune became a nostalgic and bittersweet paean to hope across France, an anthem for an occupied people.
“Our band’s identity is based on WWDD?—What would Django do?” Mehling says prior to the Charlotte concert. “What would he be playing now if he hadn’t passed on in 1953?”
Amid the flurry of interest in Reinhardt, the blossoming of Gypsy-jazz bands and a host of Django festivals, Mehling sounds a word of caution. He’s not certain Reinhardt would be honored by the present state of Gypsy jazz. He recounts an incident in 2000 when the Hot Club of San Francisco headlined at a Django fest in Samois sur Seine. Each act played ever louder, ever faster, an approach that gives Reinhardt’s repertoire short shrift, Mehling says.
“There is far too much imitation, and not enough originality” in the scene, and at the festivals, Mehling adds. When players attempt to replicate solos note for note, he says, the result is antithetical to Reinhardt who was more about improvisation and experimentation. The solution to that is for musicians to obtain many Django songs, with transcriptions, and study and practice to master the technique. The Django In A Box website at www.djangoinabox.com has over 200 such songs available for download, so that’s a great starting point for budding gypsy guitarists.
Speaking with the authority of a Gypsy upbringing, Rosenberg concurs. “My music school was and is the [Gypsy] camp, where I was challenged to create a sound of my own,” he says. “I do not want to just repeat. Rather, I express my own soul in the music, and give it my own twist.”
Guitarist Thor Jensen, who plays in Stéphane Wrembel’s band, understands the critique that festivals may stress imitation over innovation, but he’s not sure the charge is fair. “The same could be said about rock ‘n’ roll, folk, or country,” Jensen says. “And just like all of these genres, if you look a little deeper, the uniqueness of the artists becomes more apparent.”
Adds Jorgenson, “Anybody who is first getting into this style need someone to emulate, so why not Django? That’s how musicians find their voice. The players who develop end up finding their own voice and sound within the genre. When the American scene started in the early part of this century, it was not all that unique and it was not as good as the Europeans.”
But now, Gypsy-jazz festivals are fertile ground for innovative and surprising musicians, Jorgenson says. He cites last years’ Djangofest Northwest in Washington State, where he saw his former rhythm guitarist Gonzalo Bergara play. “(Bergara) is Argentinean,” he says, “so he brings that Latin influence to the table. But he’s still playing Gypsy jazz.”
Wrembel views Reinhardt’s legacy with optimism, and the imitation vs. innovation debate with equanimity. “I can’t name another musician who generates this kind of following,” Wrembel says, citing the worldwide proliferation of hot clubs and Django fests all over the world, as well as booming sales for Selmer-Maccaferri guitars, Reinhardt’s guitar of choice. “That’s the power of Django’s music.”
“The guardians keep the music authentic,” he adds, “and many people, including myself, are exploring new avenues. I am not too fond of the fight between innovators and guardians. There is space, and a function for everyone. The guardians keep a tradition available, the innovators keep if fresh.”
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