Django Reinhardt, "Peche A La Mouche", 2-CD
The Great Blue Star Sessions 1947-1953
From review a:
The "gypsy jazz" guitar style pioneered by the much-revered Django Reinhardt underpins many of the best musette recordings. This is some of his later work, made in 1947 and 1953, when Reinhardt was in a state of semi-retirement. He had also become fascinated with bebop, which was the universal jazz form at the time. Paradoxically, his interest in the pyrotechnics of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker led Reinhardt to play in a style which was less dynamic and more lyrical than his classic work from the '30s, and he became a more subtly expressive player. Like Louis Armstrong in his later years, Reinhardt was undeniably a master musician, playing with a richness and soulful depth that few musicians could hope to match. Sadly, he died of a brain hemmorage not long after the last of these recordings, in 1953.
