Guitarists most similar to Django?

wim · February 25

https://djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/120131#Comment_120131

There is some evidence that Daniel and/or Duved pushed for it here. Copying below the relevant Q&A from the interview:

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Whose idea was it to take on the name of the Quintette du Hot Club de France and how did it become a reality?

It started as a joke! As our style was getting closer and closer to that of the original Django and Grappelli formation, I suggested we take that name. We all had a good laugh… and here we are. The Hot Club de France is a non profit organization created in the 1930s in order to support hot jazz. To this day, their objective didn’t change. Although their reaction was positive from the moment we reached out to them with the idea, it took almost two years of discussions before they officially gave us the green light.

So, what happened on December 14th?

That was our big night! Together with the Hot Club de France, we organized our first concert using the name QHCF at the beautiful Salle Cortot—the very same concert hall where almost exactly ninety years ago, in December 1934, the original quintet played their first gig. Musicologist and Django expert Philippe Baudoin gave a talk about trad jazz and then the Hot Club de France’s president, François Desbrosses, officially “passed on the torch” to us.

What do you have to say to people who think the title of QHCF is “sacred” and you shouldn’t dare measure yourselves up to Django and Grappelli?

That they are simply missing the point. Our goal is not to impersonate Django and Grappelli but to carry on their legacy. We’re not the only ones to assume a preexisting name. There is the Golden Gate Quartet, the Count Basie Orchestra, or any symphony orchestras where musicians retire and younger ones replace them without breaking the link. As such, the Quintet of the Hot Club de France still has a lot to say.

flaco · February 25

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/120145#Comment_120145

Well that answers that question! It doesn’t bother me, but I can definitely see how that would be a turn off for some people.

Buco · February 26

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/120144#Comment_120144

I don't know how much more official can it get... it's the announcement for the concert declaring that the QHCF is being reformed, published on the Hot Club website with the mention of the Hot Club president to attend the concert. Yes they could have published its own dedicated article instead of wrapping it in the concert announcement but I don't see that making it more official.

Copying the info published there in case the page gets buried (Google translated)

EVENT CONCERT OF THE REFORMATION OF THE QUINTET OF THE HOT CLUB DE FRANCE - SATURDAY DECEMBER 14 - CORTOT HALL

90 years after its first concert given here, at the Salle Cortot, the group which gave France its most original and significant contribution to the history of jazz is rising from its ashes!

A spirit, an aesthetic, a sound … Around Duved DUNAYEVSKY and Daniel GARLITSKY , this is what the new Quintette du Hot Club de France is trying to revive , as an extension of the creative legacy of its august founders Django REINHARDT and Stéphane Grappelli . Because legends are like phoenixes : no matter how much you let them go out, the embers never completely disappear.

This new Quintet of the Hot Club de France is not intended to be just a tribute or a "cover band". The group offers a personal approach to a heritage that combines the demands and respect of classical music with a resolutely " Hot " temperament.

A clever cocktail that made all the originality of the original aesthetic gesture of Reinhardt and Grappelli in 1934. By " Hot ", understand : ardent swing, commitment and exaltation. In other words: a certain propensity to move bodies and galvanize minds, while delivering remarkable precision of execution.

Didn't Django REINHARDT declare : " Jazz attracted me because I found in it a perfection of form and an instrumental accuracy that I admire in great music but which are lacking in popular music " ?

It is with this philosophy that this new Quintet of the Hot Club de France will offer essential classics by Reinhardt and Grappelli as well as a selection of original compositions, standards from the 1910s to the 1940s never recorded by their elders, without forgetting some swing adaptations of works from the classical repertoire.

Listening to the new Quintette du Hot Club de France in concert, thanks to its expert knowledge of the repertoire of the 1920s/1930s, offers listeners a genuine artistic and historical experience.

With the exceptional presence of Philippe BAUDOIN , musicologist, and François DESBROSSES , President of the Hot Club de France

pdg · February 26

The HCF once embraced a bold new creative spirit. Now it worships adherence to tradition. (Notwithstanding the excellence of Duved and his group, and even their creativity within the genre that they revere.)

billyshakes · February 26

Irrespective of what they are called, I like the music that Duved and Daniel create. I hope the sponsorship by the HCF increases their visibility and the scope of their audience. Let's be frank, our music, no matter how important to us, is really only a small niche in the greater jazz and even greater music community. If this sponsorship means this band gets to record one or two extra albums that they wouldn't have otherwise been able to afford, I'm a happy guy.

Buco · February 26

@pdg

Now it worships adherence to tradition.

Welp, I'm afraid that describes myself and everyone I know that plays this music. Even if I do play a maj69 and Duved says I should just play a basic triad/barre chord.

paulmcevoy75 · February 27

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/120173#Comment_120173

Yeah it is in the interest of people who love this music to have people playing it and popularizing it. Duved has done the work to do what he does and he shares it pretty freely. I can't really see the advantage of getting upset about this.

MichaelHorowitz · February 27

I never understood the never ending dispute over tradition vs innovation. They’re both valid artistic pursuits but tend to appeal to different listeners, that’s all. The idea that recreating a historic style is somehow an artistically brain dead exercise in rote musical regurgitation or that “innovation” is just a bunch of aimless, self indulgent gimmickry misses the real barometer of artistic success. Connecting with audiences through performances that communicate something truly meaningful, be it within the confines of well established musical norms or conversely through pushing boundaries into unexplored territory, is what separates the top artists from the rest. Duved is doing just that, and is arguably one of the premier ambassadors of the style. Being awarded with HCF designation seems only fitting….

voutoreenie · February 27

Well said Michael and as an extension, these discussions always seems to turn into something like a constant "No True Scotsman" fallacy, the way some of these tradition vs. innovation arguments seem to play out...very much like straight ahead purists arguing with free jazz/free improv people about what the definition of "jazz" itself even is, just at the GJ sub-genre level lol

littlemark · February 27

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/120172#Comment_120172

I am no expert in the current HOT club de France, but to me not all Jazz is hot. Cool Jazz is decidedly not hot, as an example. There might be some limitations on what they want to listen to and or promote.

I love Jazz, but I don't love all Jazz.

I love ska. But I don't love 3rd wave ska and most two tone ska.

Etc.