Here we go again -- another European guitar-playing
Django-phile takes a crack at the revered Belgian gypsy's style and repertoire.
Harri Stojka, it turns out, is the genuine article himself -- a Roma gypsy from Vienna -- and the long-haired guitarist spent much time in the bebop and jazz-rock vineyards before reaching back to
Django Reinhardt-vintage swing. If there's a big difference, it is that
Stojka does not try to re-create the
Reinhardt sound molecule-for-molecule. While retaining the string-bending nuances of
Reinhardt,
Stojka's touch is sharper, steelier, more muscular, and he is not above adding a corny quote like "shave and a haircut, two bits." On "Swanee River" and "J'Attendrai," he even includes a banjo in the chonking rhythm section, which sends the sound back to the '20s at least. Moreover, the band is recorded with a more abrasive sound quality than most
Reinhardt disciples receive.
Stojka touches the usual
Reinhardt bases like "Avalon," "Nuages," and "Limehouse Blues," yet he also takes on non-
Django material from the period such as "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" and "Petite Fleur." Of course,
Stojka has a violin foil (Eva Berky), but only on four tracks, and the rhythm is augmented by the hyper-brushed snare drum of Heimo Wiederhofer. You could say that this album is the logical result of having arrived at
Reinhardt after passing through the energy field of
John McLaughlin -- and as such,
Reinhardt purists should tread here with caution. ~ Richard S. Ginell