Django (jazz track)
Django is a jazz composition by pianist John Lewis from 1954 (published 1955). It is considered the most successful composition by John Lewis and has become the jazz standard .
The composition
Lewis composed Django in memory of Django Reinhardt, who died in 1953 . The theme is reminiscent of a funeral march and is based on the two-measure starting motif, which begins with a syncope , an emphatically advanced tone. This motif is repeated rhythmically as the harmonies change, and culminates in bar 12. From there it descends like a scale in two four bars. The improvisation that follows this theme does not use its harmony sequence , but a chorus derived from it, which consists of four parts: First two six bars with a quintessential sequence as a clear thematic reference, then eight bars over an organ point . Now the first four bars are repeated a fifth lower; twice four bars with a characteristic, blues-like rhythmic bass motif complete the chorus.
As the composer of the Third Stream, Lewis integrated elements of classical art music , even filling seemingly jazz-remote forms of the Baroque with jazz content without giving up his deep roots in the Afro-American tradition. The original version was recorded on December 23rd with the Modern Jazz Quartet and served as the title track of their first album. This version is closer to the baroque Largo than to the Swing manouche , but still conveys a deep blues feeling. The piece is on National Public Radio 's list of the hundred most important American musical recordings .
Lewis has found new sides to the play over the decades. Django has been recorded by the Modern Jazz Quartet more often than any other track. In general, the basic arrangement remained the same, but the intensity of the interpretation was increased, also by expanding the solos more and more. An interpretation at a concert in Gothenburg (Sweden) in 1960 is considered particularly outstanding . As early as 1955, Lewis wrote an arrangement committed to the Third Stream , in which the theme was introduced by the harp, then JJ Johnson and Lucky Thompson emerged as soloists before the theme ended in the manner of a brass choir. In 1976 he recorded a vocal version with Helen Merrill .
Django as a jazz standard
Gunther Schuller used Django as the starting point for his three Variants on a Theme of John Lewis , which he recorded with soloists such as Eric Dolphy , Jim Hall , Bill Evans and Eddie Costa on the third stream album Jazz Abstractions in 1960. Michel Legrand brought in Miles Davis as soloist in 1958 for his interpretation with an eleven-member ensemble . Stan Kenton interpreted Django with his big band in 1959. The piece is particularly popular with guitarists such as Philip Catherine , Jim Hall (who also recorded the piece with Pat Metheny and a string orchestra), Grant Green , Joe Pass , John McLaughlin , Phil Upchurch , Christian Escoudé and numerous guitarists of gypsy jazz . Pianists such as Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson , Tommy Flanagan , Stanley Cowell , Tete Montoliu , Adam Makowicz and Ray Bryant also paid tribute to the piece. Recordings by Sonny Rollins , Roland Kirk and Wynton Marsalis are also worth mentioning.
literature
- Carlo Bohländer , Karl Heinz Holler, Christian Pfarr: Reclam's Jazz Guide . 5th, revised and supplemented edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-15-010464-5 .
- Hans-Jürgen Schaal (Ed.): Jazz standards. The encyclopedia. 3rd, revised edition. Bärenreiter, Kassel u. a. 2004, ISBN 3-7618-1414-3 .