– 500 copies available online only –

Sam Records/Saga are very excited to announce the 5th release of their ARTISAN series :
Django Reinhardt – The Great Artistry of Django Reinhardt – 45 RPM

Recorded March 10, 1953, Paris.
Original 10” LP Issue : Blue Star 6830 / Clef Records MGC-516, 1953

I have always written liner copy for the various albums that I have produced in a happy frame of mind, because not only did I enjoy the music that was contained in the album, but there was always the anticipation of future things to come from the artist. Not so, however with this album, because this is the last album that will ever be release with Django Reinhardt.

One of the greatest artists that the jazz world has ever seen, and I say world literally here, because he is one of the few great jazzman who did not come from the United States, living, as he did, in Europe. Django was a gypsy and he played with all the fire and soul that the gypsies have. He Was, as the gypsies are, in a sense, rootless, but he turned it to his advantage, because he seemed to have absorbed something from every country in which he played and in which he heard the various sounds that the different jazz people produced. He was also, to his great credit, a completely original musician, taking nothing from anyone else, and actually being the fount from which his own original and personal style flowed.

This album was recorded in Paris about a month before Django Reinhardt died, and thus it becomes a kind of memorial album to this great artist. He was accompanied on this date by Maurice Vander, piano; Pierre Michelot, bass; Jean-Louis Vialle, drums; and I really sincerely believe that the things he did on this date were the epitome of the real Reinhardt.

The tunes were: “Night and Day,” “Nuages,” “Blues for Ike,” “Sensiblement,” “Brazil,” “September Song,” “Confessin’,” “Manoir de mes rêves.”

It is tragic that we will hear no more of this great artist.

– Norman Granz –

Nuages :

Brazil :

Confessin’ :

Night and Day :

Manoir de mes Rêves :

Django Reinhardt (Guitar)
Maurice Vander (Piano)
Pierre Michelot (Bass)
Jean-Louis Viale (Drums)

Side A

• Night and Day (Cole Porter) 2’50
• Blues For Ike (Django Reinhardt) 3’20
• Nuages (Django Reinhardt) 3’14
• Insensiblement (Django Reinhardt) 3’06

Side B

• Brazil (Ary Barroso) 2’25
• September Song (Kurt Weill) 2’31
• Confessin’ (Doc Daugherty / Ellis Reynolds) 3’36
• Manoir de mes Rêves (Django Reinhardt) 2’35

180g 12’’ LP / 45-RPM.
Limited edition of 500 copies, hand-numbered.
Mastered from the original mono tapes by François Lê Xuân.
Lacquers cut by Kevin Gray, Cohearent Audio.
Pressed in Marciac, France by Garcia & Co.
Cover illustration by David Stone Martin, manually screen-printed by Stéphane Constant.
4-page booklet with photos by Maurice Zalewski / adoc-photos.
Liner notes by Norman Granz and Alain Tercinet.
Reissue produced by François Lê Xuân and Fred Thomas for Sam Records/Saga.
Each record has been visually checked to prevent defects.