Initially inspired by the guitar-violin duets of Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti, Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli developed a distinctive group sound for the Quintet of the Hot Club of France, with lead and two rhythm guitars, violin, and bass. These recordings come from near the end of their musical relationship, broadcasts from late in 1947. It's remarkably loose playing, with Django's virtuosity exploding on versions of some of his most notable compositions, like "Nuages" and "Manoir de Mes Reves," as well as jazz tunes reaching all the way back to "Dinah" and "Tiger Rag." Reinhardt was increasingly incorporating bop elements into his playing, and they're manifest on "How High the Moon." There's also later material here from the recast version of the Hot Club with altoist-clarinetist Andre Ekyun and a conventional rhythm section of piano, bass, and drums. While the group doesn't have the distinct personality of the earlier group with Grappelli, it's more amenable to the guitarist's modernist impulses. --Stuart Broomer
