If you’re an aspiring guitar player, or simply a fan of jazz/rock guitar, there is simply no better place to begin that with these two box sets that feature the work of guitarists Eddie Lang and Django Reinhardt. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING that is played on the six stringed ax, be it a Gibson, Fender, flying V or whatever, comes from the taproot of the pickings, rhythms and stylings of these two gents. If you’ve never heard these recordings before, your ears are going to be getting an epiphany. If you’re familiar with them, the remastering makes them come even more alive. OK, let’s begin…
Eddie Lang was essentially THE guitar stud of the early days of recorded music, appearing with the most famous bands of the day, namely Paul Whiteman and Bing Crosby. Combined with violinist Joe Venuti, Lang created one of the very first small swing “chamber” jazz bands, and they swung like nothing else, literally, as there was nothing that preceded them except the stiff ragtime bands.
To give you some perspective on their importance, back in the early 1980s revered jazz journalist Leonard Feather listed Joe Venuti above Miles Davis and John Coltrane as the most important musicians of the 20th Century. Just chew on that for awhile.
Why? Because while ‘Trane and Miles built on what they had learned from other generations, Venuti and Lang had absolutely no template to work on; they created this music ex nihilo, and it changed the trajectory of music. The music collected on this 4 disc, 99 song collection ranges from guitar solos, duets with Lang and various partners, trios and unbelievably joyous stomps with guests like Adrian Rollini on a plethora of reeds, Frank Trumbauer, King Oliver, Eddie Condon, Clarence Williams, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey and Bix Beiderbecke. The small group sessions a classic “hotcha” pieces like the torrid “I Found A New Baby”, “Dinah” and “My Honey’s Lovin’ Arms”. The summit meetings between Lang and Venuti, sometimes with a vocalist, are simply legendary, as “Stringin’ The Blues” and “Wild Cat” are stringed perfection.
Lang’s solo delicacies are state of the art sublime, as on “Prelude”, but for my money the apotheosis of this set are his duets. His teaming with pianist Frank Signorelli for pieces such as “Rainbow Dreams” are timeless, but when he joins with blues guitarist Lonnie Johnson, a whole new world is entered. The twelve strings create Raphaelesque tapestries interwoven on “Hot Fingers”, Deep Minor Rhythm” and “Two Tone Stomp”. This is music that has never been equaled, let alone improved upon.
The five disc, 106 song set features the guitarist Django Reinhardt in various post WWII settings. He was initially noted for his gypsy style from his legendary “Hot Club of France” pre-war recordings with violinist Stephane Grappelli, and while there are a handful of reunion meetings that capture the vigor, most of these discs have Reinhardt moving forward, usually teamed with clarinetist Hubert Rostaing as his foil, and even playing some modern electrical guitar work on boppish settings, as on “Porto Caberllo”, “Babik” and “Brazil”. What is quite illuminating is how much Reinhardt sounds like a prototype to Grant Green, creating some hip lines in a collection of 1953 sessions with Pierre Michelot/b and Martial Solal/Maurice Vander/p on sophisticated reads of “September Song,” “Le Soir” and “Duke and Dukie” as well as delivering some nice hues on “Blues For Ike” and “Blues For Barclay”.
Reinhardt also teams with alto saxists Hubert and Raymond Fol for some snappy “Double Wishy” and Vamp”,m and he sizzles in a small group during “Fine And Dandy”. Grappelli swoons on the reunion during “Lady Be Good” and “Bricktop” and gives a Debussy-esque piano treatment on “To Each His Own/Symphonie”. Of course, there are tons of versions of “Nuages” and hearing them in acoustic and electric formats is fascinating.
Spin these two box sets in your ears for awhile and you’ll start hearing them in every guitar album from Montgomery to Pass to Metheny. Get them now, thank me later.