Renown & Resistance 1937-1943

With this collection, our survey of Django Reinhardt's enormous output is practically complete. The period covered here includes much of his work with American musicians and the early years of the war, a time during which Django was more popular in France and Belgium than at any other time in his life. Parted from Stephane Grappely by the outbreak of war, he played with the leading French bands of the day and became a leader himself, if only for recording purposes. The Rythme sides, recorded under great difficulties in the occupied Brussels, show us a Django at the peak of his renown and reveling in his incomparable technique – the double-time chorus in "Django Rag" is almost incredible in its speed and delicacy. The end of the war would bring new challenges – an American tour, the decline in the popularity of jazz, the advance of bop – and it would take him some time to comprehend the new developments taking place in 52nd Street. But here he is in his pomp, playing as though his life depended on it – which at times it did.