Christian Wagner (musician)

Christian Wagner (* around 1910, † after 1943) was a French jazz musician ( clarinet , alto saxophone ), who is remembered primarily for his collaboration with Django Reinhardt .

Act

Wagner played in the swing orchestras of Bernard Etté and Teddy Kline in Berlin in the late 1920s ; Recordings were made during this time with Kline's formation The Cassidy's New Rhythmists ("Mean to Me"). In the early 1930s he moved to Paris, where he a. a. 1936 played with John Ellsworth and His Orchestra (" East of the Sun (and West of the Moon) ", with Adelaide Hall ). In November 1937 he recorded the “Big Boy Blues” with Django Reinhardt , Bill Coleman and Frank “Big Boy” Goudie , in which Wagner played a clarinet solo in the third chorus; In 1938 a radio recording was made with Coleman, Goudie and Alix Combelle ("Daphne").

In the early 1940s Wagner played in Paris with Arthur Briggs and His Swing Band, and in the Trio de Saxophones Alix Combelle , ("Casquades" / "Reflets") in which Christian Wagner played alongside Hubert Rostaing and Combelles, accompanied by Django and Joseph Reinhardt , Tony Rovira (bass) and Pierre Fouad (drums). On December 18, 1940, he recorded the tracks “Pour terminer” and “Pour commencer” for the Swing label (# SW102) under his own name ( Christian Wagner et son orchester ); Wagner's studio band included Alix Combelle, Hubert Rostaing, Django Reinhardt, Tony Rovira and Pierre Fouad.

On December 26, 1940 Wagner met Reinhardt again in a studio; The two can be heard in the big band numbers “Festival Swing 1941” (with Charles Delaunay as announcer) and “Stockholm”. In 1941 he recorded with Noël Chiboust ("Tigasso") and Alex Renard ("Mon homme"); on April 16, Wagner recorded two more tracks (“Ella n'a pas tres bon caractere”, “Ne le perdez pas”) for Swing (# SW-114); Alex Renard, Roger Fisbach, Hubert Rostaing, Coco Kiehn , Noël Chiboust, Charlie Lewis , Louis Gasté , Tony Rovira and Pierre Fouad played in his band . With Barelli's orchestra he recorded again with Reinhardt in 1942 (“Nympheas”, “Feerie”); on June 25, 1942 Wagner played two more tracks ("Studio Albert", "Redemption") with Willy Kett (vibraphone), Ivan Meyer (piano), Harry Kett (guitar), Lucien Simoëns (bass) and Jean Prince (drums) a. In the field of jazz he was involved in 29 recording sessions between 1928 and 1943, most recently in autumn 1943 with Combelle (“Ca c'fait pas”) and Michel Warlop (“Michou”).

Hugues Panassié (right) with guitarist Tiny Grimes (center) in New York City around 1947. Photography by William P. Gottlieb

In the 1920s, Wagner taught the later jazz critic Hugues Panassié on the saxophone and, who had previously only known the dance music of Jack Hylton and Paul Whiteman and its French counterparts , brought him close to the hot jazz of Bix Beiderbecke , Frank Trumbauer and Fletcher Henderson .

Web links

Christian Wagner at Discogs (English)

Notes and individual references

↑ pseudonym of Jacques Météhen (1903-1986), musician, arranger and orchestra conductor. See John Ellsworth in the database of the Bibliotèque nationale de France
^ Paul Vernon: Jean 'Django' Reinhardt: A Contextual Bio-Discography 1910-1953 . Routledge 2003
↑ ^a ^b Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed October 31, 2017)
↑ On this day, with Reinhardt and the Trio von Combelle, the title Sur les bords de l'Alamo was created , in which Christian Wagner was also involved. This was a cover version of On the Alamo , which had recently been recorded by Benny Goodman , Georgie Auld , Cootie Williams , Artie Bernstein , Charlie Christian and Jo Jones . See Alexander Schmitz, Peter Maier: Django Reinhardt. His life His music His records. Oreos Verlag (Collection Jazz), Gauting-Buchendorf 1985, p. 176 f.
↑ In the Paris jazz scene it was common at this time to "declare almost every recognized soloist on the Seine and the scene to be the leader in recordings with a similar cast ," wrote Alexander Schmitz and Peter Maier in their Django Reinhardt biography; "So it is hardly surprising that the composition 'Pour terminer' by Combelle / Wagner differs only insignificantly from the other recordings of this music circle". See Alexander Schmitz and Peter Maier: Django Reinhardt. His life His music His records. Oreos Verlag (Collection Jazz), Gauting-Buchendorf 1985, p. 177
↑ Jeffrey H. Jackson: Making Jazz French: Music and Modern Life in Interwar Paris . Durham / London, Duke University Press, 2003, p. 170; see also: William Howland Kenney: Recorded Music in American Life: The Phonograph and Popular Memory, 1890-1945 . New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 21.

personal data
SURNAME	Wagner, Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH	around 1910
DATE OF DEATH	after 1943

[1] seudonym of Jacques Météhen (1903-1986), musician, arranger and orchestra conductor. See John Ellsworth in the database of the Bibliotèque nationale de France

[2] Paul Vernon: Jean 'Django' Reinhardt: A Contextual Bio-Discography 1910-1953 . Routledge 2003

[lord-3] Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed October 31, 2017)

[4] On this day, with Reinhardt and the Trio von Combelle, the title Sur les bords de l'Alamo was created , in which Christian Wagner was also involved. This was a cover version of On the Alamo , which had recently been recorded by Benny Goodman , Georgie Auld , Cootie Williams , Artie Bernstein , Charlie Christian and Jo Jones . See Alexander Schmitz, Peter Maier: Django Reinhardt. His life His music His records. Oreos Verlag (Collection Jazz), Gauting-Buchendorf 1985, p. 176 f.

[5] In the Paris jazz scene it was common at this time to "declare almost every recognized soloist on the Seine and the scene to be the leader in recordings with a similar cast ," wrote Alexander Schmitz and Peter Maier in their Django Reinhardt biography; "So it is hardly surprising that the composition 'Pour terminer' by Combelle / Wagner differs only insignificantly from the other recordings of this music circle". See Alexander Schmitz and Peter Maier: Django Reinhardt. His life His music His records. Oreos Verlag (Collection Jazz), Gauting-Buchendorf 1985, p. 177

[6] Jeffrey H. Jackson: Making Jazz French: Music and Modern Life in Interwar Paris . Durham / London, Duke University Press, 2003, p. 170; see also: William Howland Kenney: Recorded Music in American Life: The Phonograph and Popular Memory, 1890-1945 . New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 21.