Description
Book SynopsisMichael Dregni expertly traces the development of Gypsy Jazz not through straight musical history, but instead in a fascinating travelogue and detective story, following its birth with Django and its subsequent legacy, including all of the famous guitarists who have followed in Django's footsteps-Biréli Lagrène, Boulou Ferré, Dorado Schmitt, and others.
Trade Review...illuminating as a study, historical and sociological, of Romany culture, not least in its account of life under Nazi occupation. * John Mole Times Literary Supplement *
...superb... * Garth Cartwright Froots *
He writes well, but most of all he brings to his subject a boundless enthusiasm * Merrell Noden, Mojo *
Superb book * Merrell Noden, Mojo *
Table of ContentsPrologue Music in the Shadows; The Imperfect History of Gypsy Jazz/ Chapter 1 The Guitar with a Human Voice;In Search of Django Reinhardt/ Chapter 2 The Boy With the Banjo; Into a Zigzag Paradise; Chapter 3 Bals Musette; Music from the Dark Side of the City of Light; Chapter 4Jazz Modernistique; Revisiting the Babylon of Gypsy Jazz/ Chapter 5 Songs of One Thousand and One Nights; Django Reinhardt, Schnuckenack Reinhardt, and Gypsy Jazz Under the Nazis; Chapter 6 Gypsy Bebop; From Dizzy and Bird to Django and the Gibson Generation; Chapter 7 Les Guitares à Moustache; Revolutionary Jazz Guitars for a Jazz Revolution/ Chapter 8 Crossroads; On the Road to Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer/ Chapter 9 Dynasty;Les Frères Ferret and their Musical Clan/Chapter 10La Dernière Valse des Niglos; Saints and Sinners of the Malha Clan/ Chapter 11 Au Son des Guitares; On the Trail of Patotte Bousquet/ Chapter 12 The Unsung Master of the Gypsy Waltz; Tracing the Legacy of Tchan Tchou/ Chapter 13 The Lost; The Secret History of Lousson Baumgartner and the Other Family/ Chapter 14 Minstrel; Bamboula Ferret and the Travels of a Romany Troubadour/ Chapter 15 Resurrection; The New Elegance of Biréli Lagrène, Stochelo Rosenberg, Angelo Debarre, and Ninine Garcia/ Chapter 16 The Music Thieves; Into America with Danny Fender, Johnny Guitar, John Adomono, and Julio Bella/ Chapter 17 Gypsy Jazz Rap; Syntax and the Search for Le Meilleur Chemin/Chapter 18 The Most Dangerous Guitar Lesson; Jamming with David Reinhardt/ Epilogue/Latcho Drom The Long Road/ Recommended Listening/ Notes/ Recommended Reading/ Bibliography /Acknowledgments/Index
