Django-Shift

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Although widely recognized as a jazz giant, [Django Reinhardt's] influence has been restricted to a single corner of the jazzworld, and apart from the occasional rendition of “Nuages,” almost... — Downbeat, September 2020, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 28th Aug 2020
Catalogue No: WR4762
Label: Whirlwind Recordings
Length: 48 minutes

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

Reinhardt, Django: Diminishing

Work length5:07

$1.00

$1.50

Rez Abbasi, Michael Sarin, Neil Alexander

Reinhardt, Django: Swing 42

Work length5:32

$1.00

$1.50

Rez Abbasi, Michael Sarin, Neil Alexander

Reinhardt, Django: Heavy Artillery

Work length5:26

$1.00

$1.50

Rez Abbasi, Michael Sarin, Neil Alexander

Reinhardt, Django: Django's Castle

Work length6:03

$1.00

$1.50

Rez Abbasi, Michael Sarin, Neil Alexander

Ivanovici: Anniversary Song

Work length7:20

$1.50

$2.30

Rez Abbasi, Michael Sarin, Neil Alexander

Reinhardt, Django: Cavalerie

Work length6:51

$1.00

$1.50

Rez Abbasi, Michael Sarin, Neil Alexander

Reinhardt, Django: Douce Ambiance

Work length4:13

$1.00

$1.50

Rez Abbasi, Michael Sarin, Neil Alexander

Reinhardt, Django: Hungaria

Work length4:04

$1.00

$1.50

Rez Abbasi, Michael Sarin, Neil Alexander

Weill, K: September Song

Work length3:56

$1.00

$1.50

Rez Abbasi, Michael Sarin, Neil Alexander

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About

For 'Django-shift' Rez Abbasi chose seven of Django Reinhardt's original pieces and two classic tunes that he was greatly associated with. The arrangements were soon created for a contemporary trio format, with Neil Alexander on organ and electronics and Michael Sarin on drums. The results give a fascinating and original insight into an often-overlooked attribute of Django's genius, his compositions.

Rez Abbasi has established an enviable reputation over the course of his fourteen album releases as leader: not simply as one of the finest guitarists of his generation, but also as a musical alchemist with the ability to parlay his continent-crossing range of influences into consistently fresh and innovative compositions and reframings of the tradition. His deep musicality has been applied with equal conviction to contemporary New York acoustic jazz, the Qawwali and Indian Classical traditions of South Asia and the heady fusion sounds of the 1970s, each time applying the filter of his own musical personality to deliver inimitable results.

Commissioned to present a project on Django Reinhardt from the Freight & Salvage's Django Festival in California, he boldly redefined his engagement by turning the focus away from Django, the codifier of the Sinti guitar vocabulary, and onto Django, the composer. Abbasi has kept Djangos' melodies intact and then infused each piece with his own compositional voice, adding elements of metric and harmonic expansion and allowing his collaborators room to add their own personalities to the mix.

These unique interpretations, alive with imaginative compositional interpolations and inspired improvisations, reframe this timeless music for the modern age.

Personnel: Rez Abbasi (fretted & fretless acoustic guitars), Neil Alexander (organ/electronics), Michael Sarin (drums)

Reviews

September 2020

Although widely recognized as a jazz giant, [Django Reinhardt's] influence has been restricted to a single corner of the jazzworld, and apart from the occasional rendition of “Nuages,” almost nobody plays his music anymore. With Django-shift, Rez Abbasi does his best to change that.

Django-Shift

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