Django Reinhardt

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(shù)說不清的自得，誰讓爵士史上手指數(shù)目不多不少的琴師無數(shù)，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干出驚天動地的事來，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(yōu)秀樂手一起排排坐，而絕對達不到現(xiàn)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么簡單，但對于一個琴師來講，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(yōu)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。
于是他踩著搖擺樂（Swing）的尾巴開始了行進的起點，而從1934年創(chuàng)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(yè)顛峰時刻的最好見證。是的，說起萊恩哈特怎么能不提起這個五重奏組合呢？！即使不提兩位節(jié)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，但由于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，直至形成一種虛脫后的合一，叫人感嘆不已。
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么感覺開朗，隱去了那些復雜的合弦與和聲，許多單音節(jié)的音符在速度的串聯(lián)中就如同陽光下蝴碟撲翅時的自然和歡愉，同時由于他從小在巴黎的名為“The Zone”的巴士底紅燈區(qū)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，而這個空間里的風景也更為旖旎。
除了世人皆知的吉它速度之外，使萊恩哈特與許多只能玩技術的吉它手區(qū)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(zhàn)后的那次美國之旅，曾經(jīng)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，以及在后期面對“波普”（Bebop）音樂時所表現(xiàn)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。 不得不提這張專輯里第一張CD的第十八首《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(jié)拍重新“改造”了法國國歌，真得非常贊嘆他在二次世界大戰(zhàn)剛停歇下來時，就立刻能用如此輕松隨意的心態(tài)來面對多數(shù)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里你根本聽不到戰(zhàn)爭帶來的硝煙和創(chuàng)痛，卻仿佛是一個花季少女在一場大雨停后走上街頭，對著天空說：“雨啊你終于停了，我們終于又可以在陽光下跳舞了”。
這套雙CD的專輯精選了萊恩哈特1935年至1948年黃金時段的最經(jīng)典錄音，這也正是“法國熱樂五重奏”存世的時候，雖然五、六十年前的錄音至今聽來音色已經(jīng)有一點混濁了，而缺少和聲的層次也使得他的演奏顯得過于苗條和纖細，但這絲毫阻止不了人們從他飛躍的指間聽到輕靈的熱情和開放，聽到吉普賽人那種與生俱來的純樸和自然，聽著聽著，聽眾甚至有了一種更殘忍的怪問題——如果當時大火弄得他只剩下一個健全的手指，他是不是更能練成傳說中的“一陽指”而讓人無法超越？！
1953年，萊恩哈特因為中風在法國的楓丹白露去世，享年43歲，而在他死后的50年之后，他的琴聲依然印刻在專輯里被全球的人們紀念著，就像這套唱片。他應該會感到欣慰的，尤其還有一點，即使當年跟著他屁股后面跑龍?zhí)椎暮嗬?middot;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。
Django Reinhardt was the first hugely influential jazz figure to emerge from Europe — and he remains the most influential European to this day, with possible competition from Joe Zawinul, George Shearing, John McLaughlin, his old cohort Stephane Grappelli and a bare handful of others. A free-spirited gypsy, Reinhardt wasnt the most reliable person in the world, frequently wandering off into the countryside on a whim. Yet Reinhardt came up with a unique way of propelling the humble acoustic guitar into the front line of a jazz combo in the days before amplification became widespread. He would spin joyous, arcing, marvelously inflected solos above the thrumming base of two rhythm guitars and a bass, with Grappellis elegantly gliding violin serving as the perfect foil. His harmonic concepts were startling for their time — making a direct impression upon Charlie Christian and Les Paul, among others — and he was an energizing rhythm guitarist behind Grappelli, pushing their groups into a higher gear. Not only did Reinhardt put his stamp upon jazz, his string band music also had an impact upon the parallel development of Western swing, which eventually fed into the wellspring of what is now called country music. Although he could not read music, with Grappelli and on his own, Reinhardt composed several winsome, highly original tunes like Daphne, Nuages and Manoir de Mes Reves, as well as mad swingers like Minor Swing and the ode to his record label of the 30s, Stomping at Decca. As the late Ralph Gleason said about Djangos recordings, They were European and they were French and they were still jazz.
A violinist first and a guitarist later, Jean Baptiste Django Reinhardt grew up in a gypsy camp near Paris where he absorbed the gypsy strain into his music. A disastrous caravan fire in 1928 badly burned his left hand, depriving him of the use of the fourth and fifth fingers, but the resourceful Reinhardt figured out a novel fingering system to get around the problem that probably accounts for some of the originality of his style. According to one story, during his recovery period, Reinhardt was introduced to American jazz when he found a 78 RPM disc of Louis Armstrongs Dallas Blues at an Orleans flea market. He then resumed his career playing in Parisian cafes until one day in 1934 when Hot Club chief Pierre Nourry proposed the idea of an all-string band to Reinhardt and Grappelli. Thus was born the Quintet of the Hot Club of France, which quickly became an international draw thanks to a long, splendid series of Ultraphone, Decca and HMV recordings.
The outbreak of war in 1939 broke up the Quintette, with Grappelli remaining in London where the group was playing and Reinhardt returning to France. During the war years, he led a big band, another quintet with clarinetist Hubert Rostaing in place of Grappelli, and after the liberation of Paris, recorded with such visiting American jazzmen as Mel Powell, Peanuts Hucko and Ray McKinley. In 1946, Reinhardt took up the electric guitar and toured America as a soloist with the Duke Ellington band but his appearances were poorly received. Some of his recordings on electric guitar late in his life are bop escapades where his playing sounds frantic and jagged, a world apart from the jubilant swing of old. However, starting in Jan. 1946, Reinhardt and Grappelli held several sporadic reunions where the bop influences are more subtly integrated into the old, still-fizzing swing format. In the 1950s, Reinhardt became more reclusive, remaining in Europe, playing and recording now and then until his death from a stroke in 1953. His Hot Club recordings from the `30s are his most irresistible legacy; their spirit and sound can be felt in current groups like Hollands Rosenberg Trio.