Djangology with Grapelli - RCA or Sony Import?

Django's discography is one of the most, all time messed up ones on the planet what with lots of his stuff in the public domain and stuff being pirated before and since then.

These thoughts are in no particular order.

He and Grapelli recorded together primarily pre-WWII with the Hot Club Quintet and those sides are generally regarded as his best. Most of his post-war sides are with either pick up groups wherever or in France with Hubert Rostaing on clarinet. His style was different that Grapelli's though no less interesting. He wasn't as showy as Grapelli.

That said, the RCA stuff is an Italian session, post war, with and without Grapelli. RCA has issued it a couple of times. The best sound, very good actually, is the incarnation on RCA's Bluebird series, as clearly designated on the front of the disc.

Any of the JSP boxes have as good quality sound as is available for those particular sides. The early boxes with the Hot Club very well may be direct copies of the much esteemed Mosaic Hot Club reissues and would be the very best sound available.

About 10 years ago or so, Blue Note came out with a 10 cd box from original French masters that covers the breadth of his career and is about as good as it gets for sound. Moreso, if you want a collection spanning the years.

There are a number of discs of stuff he did that are available on French Universal or Universal France. First class sound. Dusty Groove has two of them for very cheap.

There are a couple of very good sets on Disques Swing which have best available sound. Personally, I would steer away from the sessions where ex-pat Americans have billing. Those tend to be much less interesting since Django is usually only a rhythm guitarist.

And, here, for your listening and viewing pleasure is the only known video of him, with the Hot Club Quintet, no less.

http://%20%20http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzz6fAdFFis

Also, posted on July 17, 2012 at 14:33:50
k-k-k-kenny Audiophile Posts: 485 Location: Melbourne Joined: May 5, 2007	mebbe beside the point, but French label Frémeaux & Associés released the entirety of his output (or so they claimed) in a series of 20 double-CDs between the mid-90s and around 2006. All are still available, but you'd need to be keen, I guess.

I'm looking specifically at..., posted on July 17, 2012 at 14:43:19
tonyptony Audiophile Posts: 409 Joined: February 12, 2005	the 23 cut "Djangology" release that has the identical cuts on it. One is an RCA Bluebird release from 2002, the other the Sony Import release from 2011. I have a bunch of other DR stuff and decided I didn't want to go for the 10 disc set. This recording session was from the post-war period, just before his death.

A most excellent summary of what's out there, posted on July 17, 2012 at 19:54:46
Mike K Audiophile Posts: 11560 Joined: September 23, 1999	I have the 10 cd box set you mention and find it to be most excellent, though by no means comprehensive. I do enjoy it a lot. I've considered the Mosaic set several times, but have not been able to bring myself to spring for it - yet. Hopefully I will no wait too long ...

I picked the Sony Import, posted on July 18, 2012 at 07:32:19
tonyptony Audiophile Posts: 409 Joined: February 12, 2005	Hopefully newer is "better". Sony imports are usually okay, and the back of the CD case showed the previous copyright date from the Bluebird release along with the newer date. So with luck Sony will have started with the remastered source.

Music Lane

Djangology with Grapelli - RCA or Sony Import?

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