Stéphane Grappelli
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Django (left) & Grappelli (right). |
Stéphane Grappelli (
January 26,
1908 –
December 1,
1997) was a pioneer
jazz violinist who founded the quintet of the "Quintette du Hot Club de France" with
Django Reinhardt. It was among the first all-string jazz bands.
He was born in
Paris, France to
Italian parents. Sent to an orphanage as a youth after his mother died when he was 4 and his father left to fight in World War I, Grappelli started his musical career
busking on the streets of
Paris and
Montmarte with a violin
[Stephane Grappelli: A Life in the Jazz Century (an autobiographical documentary]. He began playing the violin at age 13 and attended the
Conservatoire de Paris studying the piano, between 1924 and 1928. He continued to busk on the side until he gained fame in Paris as a violin virtuoso. He also worked as a
silent film pianist while at the conservatory
[Stéphane Grappelli's obituary.] and played the saxophone.
After his career with Reinhardt, he appeared on hundreds of recordings including sessions with jazz pianist
Oscar Peterson, jazz
violinist
Jean-Luc Ponty, vibraphonist
Gary Burton, pop singer
Paul Simon, mandolin player
David Grisman, classical violinist
Yehudi Menuhin and orchestral conductor
André Previn. He also collaborated extensively with the British guitarist and graphic designer
Diz Disley, recording 13 record albums with him and his trio.
Grappelli was interred in Paris' famous
Père Lachaise Cemetery.
*"Stéphane is like one of those jugglers who send 10 plates into the air and recovers them all."
:—Yehudi Menuhin, on Grappelli's skilled improvisation.
[ Ibid. ]*"In the cinema, I had to play Mozart principally but was allowed some Gershwin in funny films. Then I discovered jazz and my vocation and kissed Amadeus goodbye."
:—Stéphane Grappelli, on his transition from silent film pianist to jazz violinist.
[ Ibid. ]*"Improvisation, it is a mystery. You can write a book about it, but by the end no one still knows what it is. When I improvise and I'm in good form, I'm like somebody half sleeping. I even forget that there are people in front of me. Great improvisers are like priests, they are thinking only of their God."
:—Stephane Grappelli
[ http://www.improworldtour.com/pages/reading-list.html]*Grappelli's music is played very quietly on
Pink Floyd's album
Wish You Were Here. It is almost impossible to hear, due to it being mixed at low volume under wind sound effects on the title track. The violinist was not credited, according to
Roger Waters, in order to avoid "a bit of an insult".
[The Piper (2002). A Rambling Conversation with Roger Waters concerning all this and that. Retrieved July 9, 2005.]
*
Obituary*
Information on biography and DVD
