Django Reinhardt: Swing 39

Stephane Grappelli: violin, Django Reinhardt: lead guitar, Joseph Reinhardt & Pierre "Barro" Ferret: guitar, Emmanuel Soudieux: bass

1. Jeepers creepers 2. Jeepers creepers 3. Swing 39 4. Japanese sandman 5. I wonder where my baby is tonight 6. I wonder where my baby is tonight 7. Tea for two 8. Tea for two 9. My melancholy baby 10. Time on my hands 11. Twelfth year 12. Twelfth year (2) 13. My melancholy baby 14. Japanese sandman 15. Tea for two 16. I wonder where my baby is tonight 17. Hungaria

Although the war was raging when Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli, and the Quintet of the Hot Club of France recorded these tracks in 1939, their light-hearted swing on standards such as "Jeepers Creepers," "Tea for Two," and "My Melancholy Baby" recalls an earlier, more peaceful time. Reinhardt and Grappelli trade solos as if they are giving each other presents. They sound as if they are in a friendly competition to see not who is the fastest or flashiest, but rather who can play the most elegant, musical lines. This CD contains multiple takes of a number of songs, including "Japanese Sandman," "I Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight," and the Reinhardt composition "Twelfth Year," but Reinhardt and Grappelli's inventiveness keeps them from sounding repetitive. Their intros and solos are different each time, and you get the feeling they could have recorded the same song a dozen times and come up with 12 different, but equally perfect, versions. The tracks on Swing 39 are among the last recorded in Paris by Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli, and the Quintet of the Hot Club of France. Within a few months the group would be split up by the war, with Grappelli spending the duration in London and Reinhardt trapped in Paris. These tracks are a fitting tribute to not only a great band, but also to an era that was soon to disappear forever. --Michael Simmons