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Just curious, Jim... does Stephane ever get into the fingerpicking Django stuff like
Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."
Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
Sorry, Jim! it wasnt my idea for that url link to do that, and Im not sure how I can go back and change it... so please accept my apologies for that boorishly huge YouTube ad...
Will
Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."
Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
I am not commenting on whether I think these recordings are worthwhile or not. That is a purely subjective judgement. However, I do not think the playing or execution compares with Django. Often the timing is quite different and the meaning and cohesion of the music is lost. In places, it just seems to meander which is something Django never did.
youtube.com/user/TheTeddyDupont
No worries. I haven't seen him play Tea for Two. And excuse me if I seemed like I was singling anyone out. I just think the posturing about comparing someone's playing to someone else kind of boring.
Will, Tea for Two is also on the album and he has a video playing Improvisation #2 on YouTube:
I don't think that Django improvised these, they're too well structured, I believe his solo pieces are really compositions. Thinking about his personality, and how he cared about the opinions of those he personally admired I'd think especially on his solo pieces he wanted to present himself in the best possible light and wouldn't leave anything to chance.
Stephane's playing has it's own take on the interpretation. I meant to mention that at some passages the timing is different, usually he chose to slow things down, or give it more space. But that really doesn't bother me or is a distraction to the rest of the piece. It has it's own life. But then I honestly never understood (in most cases) critiquing the classical interpretations of guitar pieces. And this isn't directed at you Teddy, just something I occasionally think about like say when I watch and listen some classical guitar on YouTube and there's all kinds of criticism in the comments pertaining to the interpretation which I usually don't understand because to me the person just killed it.
Anyone else think Improvisation no. 2 sounds like a Villa-Lobos composition? I guess there is no way to know for sure, but I do wonder if Django was exposed to and/or inspired by some Brazilian guitarists at the time
"Improvisation No 2" is clearly not totally improvised. It is one of the rare times Django actually plays almost exactly the same in each chorus.
I think the majority of the other improvisation are largely improvised. Some passages he will have experimented with beforehand as all musicians do. Bob Ferrario, who was close to Django for a while in the forties, said Django would sometimes experiment with a phrase or sequence for a long time until he was happy with it and then say "I'll use that sometime".
Apparently "Improvisation No1" was only recorded because they had some "wax" left over at the end of a recording session and Django was asked to play anything. He was even counted down until the recording ran out. Much of that must have been improvised and it is truly brilliant.
youtube.com/user/TheTeddyDupont
I think the majority of the other improvisation are largely improvised. Some passages he will have experimented with beforehand as all musicians do.
Yes, other than Tears and Improvisation #2, I'd say most of Django's solo pieces were improvised using various melodic and harmonic sequences that he had worked out previously but combined spontaneously for a performance. Although, Echoes of Spain may have been partially or completely pre-composed as well.
I talked to Stephane about this although briefly after the show and his opinion is that it's mostly composed. He played Improvisation #1 this night and in the introduction on the stage said that it's too perfect for any of it to be the work of chance. Just like I felt after listening to the album over and over and over. That's what made me look for him after the show and ask about this. He did give it a possibility for some of it to have been improvised but only after he had the whole thing down already and could then take some small liberties. But he finished with "I think they're mostly composed".
I really enjoyed Stephane's take on these solo pieces. I've been listening to him a lot recently (going to see him next month) and what I enjoy is that it's Stephane playing Django in a really purely Stephane way. I think that's one thing in general that I appreciate about him as a guitarist and composer.