Complete, Vol. 17: 1949 la Mer (2003)

About this title: Here is a fascinating taste of where Django's art was headed during the last years of his life. By the late '40s, Django was feeling somewhat disconnected from audiences both in the U.S.A. and in Europe. He found himself in the strange position of being too modern for the traditionalists and too traditional for certain modernists. Much of this divisiveness was invented by uptight music critics and exacerbated by shortsighted journalists. Django's musical reality was interwoven throughout the many different fibers of that continuous braid of contrasting traditions known as jazz. His musical ... read more

Tracks:

1. Djangology [Grappelli/Reinhardt]
2. Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away) [Gershwin/Gershwin]
3. (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons [Best/Watson]
4. Daphné [Grappelli/Reinhardt]
5. La Mer (Beyond the Sea) [Trenet]
6. Sweet Georgia Brown [Bernie/Pinkard/Case]
7. Lover Man [Davis/Ramirez/Sherm]
8. Marie [Berlin]
9. Stormy Weather [Arlen/Koehler]
10. Minor Swing [Grappelli/Reinhardt]
11. To Each His Own Symphony [Alstone/Evans/Lawre]
12. What Is This Thing Called Love? [Porter]
13. Ou Es-Tu, Mon Amour? (Where Are You, My Love?) [Stern]
14. Undecided [Robin/Shavers]
15. Improvisation No. 4 [Reinhardt]
16. Swing '42 [Reinhardt/Reisner]
17. I Surrender, Dear [Barris/Clifford]
18. After You've Gone [Creamer/Layton]
19. I Got Rhythm [Gershwin/Gershwin]
20. I Saw Stars [Goodhart/Hoffman/Si]
21. Artillerie Lourde (Heavy Artillery) [Reinhardt]
22. It's Only a Paper Moon [Arlen/Rose/Harburg]
23. Time on My Hands [Adamson/Gordon/Youm]
24. Brick Top [Grappelli/Reinhardt]
25. Improvisation sur l'Andante de la Symphonie No.6 [Tchaikovsky]
26. My Blue Heaven [Whiting/Donaldson]
27. Ménilmontant [Trenet]
28. Swing Guitars [Grappelli/Reinhardt]
29. My Melancholy Baby [Burnett/Norton]
30. Webster [Reinhardt]
31. Micro (Mike) [Version 1] [Reinhardt]
32. Micro (Mike) [Version 2] [Reinhardt]
33. Dream of You [Lunceford/Morales]
34. Begin the Beguine [Porter]
35. How High the Moon [Hamilton/Lewis]
36. Nuages [Reinhardt]
37. I Can't Get Started [Duke/Gershwin]
38. I Can't Give You Anything But Love [Fields/McHugh]
39. Manoir de Mes Rêves [Reinhardt]
40. The Man I Love [Gershwin/Gershwin]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.