Nuages

The original LP presented here, first issued as The Great Artistry of Django Reinhardt (Clef Records MGC-516 [10 LP]), contains some of the last recorded music by the great Django Reinhardt. Soon after he cut these sessions, he unexpectedly died on May 16, 1953, at the age of 43. The quartet date was made by the French company Blue Star, but produced from the other side of the ocean by Norman Granz, who issued it in the United States on his Clef label. It was planned to be the start of an intense collaboration between Django and Granz which, unfortunately, would never come to be. Further Blue Star sessions by Django from 1947 have been added here as a bonus, as well as a four-tune Decca quintet date which is the only existing session pairing the guitarist with celebrated French pianist Martial Solal. It would also be Django s last recording session ever