【專輯名稱】：The Best of Django Reinhardt [Capitol/Blue Note]
【專輯歌手】：Django Reinhardt
【發行日期】：March 19, 1996
【發行公司】：Capitol
【專輯風格】：Gypsy Jazz Guitar
【專輯介紹】：
他是歐陸爵士音樂發展的奠基人，也是爵士史上最偉大的爵士吉他巨匠。稱他是爵士吉他界的帕格尼尼、李斯特，或是薩克斯風界的菜鳥派克（Charlie "Bird" Parker）一點也不為過。一九二八年在一次大火中，為了營救身陷火場的母親而遭到嚴重的灼傷，導致左手只有兩根手指能正常活動，並在床上躺了一年多才能正常的下床走動。所以我們現在所聽到的專輯，都是他用7根手指頭彈奏出來的，你只能用「不可思議」來形容！
中國的樂迷習慣把強哥·萊恩哈特（Django Reinhardt）稱為「三指琴魔」，相信他泉下有知的話，也會對這個中文名字開懷而笑，這笑容中肯定也會含著一種數說不清的自得，誰讓爵士史上手指數目不多不少的琴師無數，卻偏偏敵不過他一個殘疾樂手呢！
不知道如果沒有18歲那年的蓬車失火，萊恩哈特會不會在班卓琴或小提琴上同樣幹出驚天動地的事來，但設想的結果是很有可能他也會成為一個出色的樂手，但只能和同時代的許多優秀樂手一起排排坐，而絕對達不到現在這種宗師級的地位。問題看上去似乎只是大火燒傷了他左手的小指和無名指那麼簡單，但對於一個琴師來講，這無疑就是上帝對你進行的最嚴厲的懲罰，不過，萊恩哈特這個比利時出生的吉普塞（Gypsy）人也正是在這關鍵時刻顯示了他個性中最為優秀的一面，他只是把這次災難看成上帝和他開的小小玩笑，而目的是要讓他新生。
於是他踩著搖擺樂（Swing）的尾巴開始了行進的起點，而從1934年創立到1948年解散的「法國熱樂五重奏」（Quintet of the Hot Club of France）則就是他事業顛峰時刻的最好見證。是的，說起萊恩哈特怎麼能不提起這個五重奏組合呢？！即使不提兩位節奏吉它手（其中一位是他的弟弟）和貝司手，也一定要提起另一個小提琴大師史提芬·格拉佩利（Stephane Grappelli）,正是他在精神上極度的自戀和對音樂絕不革新的「保守」精神，恰恰和喜歡自由、樂觀、即興、灑脫的萊恩哈特形成了一種爵士史上少見的美學對立，當吉它和小提琴聲交錯的響起時，總有一種感覺他們仿佛一個是浪人、一個是紳士，一個是小吃、一個是大餐，雖然聽起來似乎非常的不合諧，但由於他們各自高超的演奏技藝，使得樂聲在最完美的兩級竟又不期而遇，直至形成一種虛脫後的合一，叫人感歎不已。
不過，人們還是難以掩飾對萊恩哈特的偏愛，聽他的吉它演奏永遠是那麼感覺開朗，隱去了那些複雜的合弦與和聲，許多單音節的音符在速度的串聯中就如同陽光下蝴蝶撲翅時的自然和歡愉，同時由於他從小在巴黎的名為「The Zone」的巴士底紅燈區長大的原因，使他有機會接觸到諸如「錫盤巷」（Tin Pan Alley）、「吉普賽」（Gypsy）、「馬賽特」（Musette）等等許多民俗的音樂，這也使得他吉它的營造空間變得更為廣闊，而這個空間裡的風景也更為旖旎。
除了世人皆知的吉它速度之外，使萊恩哈特與許多隻能玩技術的吉它手區別開來的一個重要因素就是他對音樂的革新精神，僅管有人會說他在二戰後的那次美國之旅，曾經因為使用了插電的吉它就變得像不會彈琴一樣了，甚至還有人認為他缺乏向新音樂過渡的勇氣，以及在後期面對「波普」（Bebop）音樂時所表現的力不從心，但要知道任何革新都應該有所限度， 萊恩哈特至少清楚的知道他對音樂的理解能把革新做到最恰如其分的程度，所以他把他的生命中最好的東西都留在了上個世紀30到40年代的十幾年間。 不得不提《Echoes Of France（LaMarseillaise）》，這是他在1946年1月31日的錄音，而主題居然是用搖擺樂的節拍重新「改造」了法國國歌，真得非常讚歎他在二次世界大戰剛停歇下來時，就立刻能用如此輕鬆隨意的心態來面對多數人還在唏噓還在茫然的未來，從那些琴弦上匆匆飛過的音符裡你根本聽不到戰爭帶來的硝煙和創痛，卻仿佛是一個花季少女在一場大雨停後走上街頭，對著天空說：「雨啊你終於停了，我們終於又可以在陽光下跳舞了」。
1953年，萊恩哈特因為中風在法國的楓丹白露去世，享年43歲，而在他死後的50年之後，他的琴聲依然印刻在專輯裡被全球的人們紀念著。我想他應該會感到欣慰的，尤其還有一點，即使當年跟著他屁股後面跑龍套的亨利·薩爾瓦多（Henri Salvador）都已成了一代宗師了，他也確實應該感到滿足了。
Jean "Django" Reinhardt (French: [d???ɡo ??jna?t] or [d?ɑ?ɡo ?enɑ?t]; 23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953) was a Belgium-born French guitarist and composer of Romani ethnicity. Reinhardt is often regarded as one of the greatest guitar players of all time; he was the first important European jazz musician who made major contributions to the development of the guitar genre. After his third and fourth fingers were paralyzed when he suffered burns in a fire, Reinhardt used only the index and middle fingers of his left hand on his solos. He created an entirely new style of jazz guitar technique (sometimes called 'hot' jazz guitar), which has since become a living musical tradition within French Gypsy culture. With violinist Stéphane Grappelli, Reinhardt co-founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France, described by critic Thom Jurek as "one of the most original bands in the history of recorded jazz." Reinhardt's most popular compositions have become jazz standards, including "Minor Swing", "Daphne", "Belleville", "Djangology", "Swing '42", and "Nuages".
Tread cautiously when the title of an album starts off with the phrase "the best of." It's not that the music on the album will be lacking, but that the introductory phrase is so subjective, it should make a prospective of the album, at the minimum, a bit wary; it would be somewhat more honest to title such compilations "Some of the Best of..." In any event, this Blue Note album, compiled with the usual knowing liner notes of the eminent Dan Morgenstern, collects Reinhardt sessions from May 1936, when the clouds of World War II were starting to engulf Europe, to March 1948. A survey of Reinhardt's performances over these tumultuous 12 years is an opportunity to see how the great guitar player's style changed and evolved. And evolve it did, but never did it lose its foundation, which was swing. It is at least arguable that no guitar player, including the great Charlie Christian, was as adept in making that instrument move as did Reinhardt. Morgenstern also wisely included many of Reinhardt's compositions on this compilation, reminding us that he was more than a fair-to-middlin' tunesmith. The first cut, with the original Quintet of the Hot Club of France, one of several he shares with his longtime musical comrade-in-arms, Stephane Grappelli, is as infectious a rendition of this warhorse as has been captured on disc, the 1941 Benny Goodman Sextet and 1945 Benny Morton All Stars versions notwithstanding. Moving ahead to 1939, "I'll See You in My Dreams," is somewhat more pensive, but nonetheless Reinhardt still swings. Reinhardt also had the ability to expresses an immense sense of romanticism in his playing. Nowhere is his romantic streak broader as when he and clarinetist Hubert Rostaign put together a lovely version of Reinhardt's "Nuages." And he was a whiz at swinging the blues, as seen on "St. Louis Blues." On this tune, working above the rhythm guitar of Louis Gaste on W.C. Handy's blues psalm, he demonstrates the ability to put across a melody with an infectious toe-tapping rhythm. By the time the late 1940s arrive, Reinhardt is still swinging, as on "Django's Tiger" and "Lady Be Good." There are a couple of sessions of Reinhardt with an orchestra, and while these come off reasonably well, the guitarist was much more at ease in small groups, where he was less constrained. Not only was this the case with the quintet, but with such American jazzers as Rex Stewart and His Feetwarmers on "Montmartre" as well. On the last cut, "To Each His Own Symphony," he is reunited with Stephane Grappelli (this time on piano) in a pensive recapitulation of their off-and-on association. The album is an excellent compilation of 18 cuts and 53 minutes of music by one of the most significant European apostles of and influences on American jazz.
- Authored By Dave Nathan
【專輯曲目】：
01. Limehouse Blues
02. When Day Is Done
03. St. Louis Blues
04. Minor Swing
05. My Serenade
06. You Rascal You
07. Montmartre
08. I'll See You in My Dreams
09. Naguine
10. Nuages
11. Blues Clair
12. Place de Brouckere
13. Manoir de Mes Reves (Django's Castle)
14. Django's Tiger
15. Ol' Man River
16. Diminushing
17. Oh, Lady Be Good
18. To Each His Own Symphony
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