Write a Review
Critic's Review
Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
Whether it is "essential" or not is up to jazz fans to debate, but this budget two-disc Essential Collection of material by Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli contains no less than 51 selections and offers brilliant performances by the gypsy jazz duo along with their Hot Club of France band from the 1930s and '40s. Sound quality is fair to good throughout, as it seems most of these cuts were taken from original master tapes and not 78s or acetates. Of course the band covered some stellar material such as "Jeepers Creepers," Irving Berlin's "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm," "Georgia on My Mind," and a number of stellar originals such as "Hungaria," the "HCQ Strut," and "Stompin' at Decca" among them. For the money, this is a fine collection.
