Django Reinhardt

中國(guó)的樂(lè)迷習(xí)慣把強(qiáng)哥·萊恩哈特（Django Reinhardt）稱為“三指琴魔”，相信他泉下有知的話，也會(huì)對(duì)這個(gè)中文名字開(kāi)懷而笑，這笑容中肯定也會(huì)含著一種數(shù)說(shuō)不清的自得，誰(shuí)讓爵士史上手指數(shù)目不多不少的琴師無(wú)數(shù)，卻偏偏敵不過(guò)他一個(gè)殘疾樂(lè)手呢！
不知道如果沒(méi)有18歲那年的蓬車(chē)失火，萊恩哈特會(huì)不會(huì)在班卓琴或小提琴上同樣干出驚天動(dòng)地的事來(lái)，但設(shè)想的結(jié)果是很有可能他也會(huì)成為一個(gè)出色的樂(lè)手，但只能和同時(shí)代的許多優(yōu)秀樂(lè)手一起排排坐，而絕對(duì)達(dá)不到現(xiàn)在這種宗師級(jí)的地位。問(wèn)題看上去似乎只是大火燒傷了他左手的小指和無(wú)名指那么簡(jiǎn)單，但對(duì)于一個(gè)琴師來(lái)講，這無(wú)疑就是上帝對(duì)你進(jìn)行的最嚴(yán)厲的懲罰，不過(guò)，萊恩哈特這個(gè)比利時(shí)出生的吉普塞（Gypsy）人也正是在這關(guān)鍵時(shí)刻顯示了他個(gè)性中最為優(yōu)秀的一面，他只是把這次災(zāi)難看成上帝和他開(kāi)的小小玩笑，而目的是要讓他新生。
于是他踩著搖擺樂(lè)（Swing）的尾巴開(kāi)始了行進(jìn)的起點(diǎn)，而從1934年創(chuàng)立到1948年解散的“法國(guó)熱樂(lè)五重奏”（Quintet of the Hot Club of France）則就是他事業(yè)顛峰時(shí)刻的最好見(jiàn)證。是的，說(shuō)起萊恩哈特怎么能不提起這個(gè)五重奏組合呢？！即使不提兩位節(jié)奏吉它手（其中一位是他的弟弟）和貝司手，也一定要提起另一個(gè)小提琴大師史提芬·格拉佩利（Stephane Grappelli）,正是他在精神上極度的自戀和對(duì)音樂(lè)絕不革新的“保守”精神，恰恰和喜歡自由、樂(lè)觀、即興、灑脫的萊恩哈特形成了一種爵士史上少見(jiàn)的美學(xué)對(duì)立，當(dāng)吉它和小提琴聲交錯(cuò)的響起時(shí)，總有一種感覺(jué)他們仿佛一個(gè)是浪人、一個(gè)是紳士，一個(gè)是小吃、一個(gè)是大餐，雖然聽(tīng)起來(lái)似乎非常的不合諧，但由于他們各自高超的演奏技藝，使得樂(lè)聲在最完美的兩級(jí)竟又不期而遇，直至形成一種虛脫后的合一，叫人感嘆不已。
不過(guò)，人們還是難以掩飾對(duì)萊恩哈特的偏愛(ài)，聽(tīng)他的吉它演奏永遠(yuǎn)是那么感覺(jué)開(kāi)朗，隱去了那些復(fù)雜的合弦與和聲，許多單音節(jié)的音符在速度的串聯(lián)中就如同陽(yáng)光下蝴碟撲翅時(shí)的自然和歡愉，同時(shí)由于他從小在巴黎的名為“The Zone”的巴士底紅燈區(qū)長(zhǎng)大的原因，使他有機(jī)會(huì)接觸到諸如“錫盤(pán)巷”（Tin Pan Alley）、“吉普賽”（Gypsy）、“馬賽特”（Musette）等等許多民俗的音樂(lè)，這也使得他吉它的營(yíng)造空間變得更為廣闊，而這個(gè)空間里的風(fēng)景也更為旖旎。
除了世人皆知的吉它速度之外，使萊恩哈特與許多只能玩技術(shù)的吉它手區(qū)別開(kāi)來(lái)的一個(gè)重要因素就是他對(duì)音樂(lè)的革新精神，僅管有人會(huì)說(shuō)他在二戰(zhàn)后的那次美國(guó)之旅，曾經(jīng)因?yàn)槭褂昧瞬咫姷募妥兊孟癫粫?huì)彈琴一樣了，甚至還有人認(rèn)為他缺乏向新音樂(lè)過(guò)渡的勇氣，以及在后期面對(duì)“波普”（Bebop）音樂(lè)時(shí)所表現(xiàn)的力不從心，但要知道任何革新都應(yīng)該有所限度， 萊恩哈特至少清楚的知道他對(duì)音樂(lè)的理解能把革新做到最恰如其分的程度，所以他把他的生命中最好的東西都留在了上個(gè)世紀(jì)30到40年代的十幾年間。 不得不提這張專輯里第一張CD的第十八首《Echoes Of France（LaMarseillaise）》，這是他在1946年1月31日的錄音，而主題居然是用搖擺樂(lè)的節(jié)拍重新“改造”了法國(guó)國(guó)歌，真得非常贊嘆他在二次世界大戰(zhàn)剛停歇下來(lái)時(shí)，就立刻能用如此輕松隨意的心態(tài)來(lái)面對(duì)多數(shù)人還在唏噓還在茫然的未來(lái)，從那些琴弦上匆匆飛過(guò)的音符里你根本聽(tīng)不到戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)帶來(lái)的硝煙和創(chuàng)痛，卻仿佛是一個(gè)花季少女在一場(chǎng)大雨停后走上街頭，對(duì)著天空說(shuō)：“雨啊你終于停了，我們終于又可以在陽(yáng)光下跳舞了”。
這套雙CD的專輯精選了萊恩哈特1935年至1948年黃金時(shí)段的最經(jīng)典錄音，這也正是“法國(guó)熱樂(lè)五重奏”存世的時(shí)候，雖然五、六十年前的錄音至今聽(tīng)來(lái)音色已經(jīng)有一點(diǎn)混濁了，而缺少和聲的層次也使得他的演奏顯得過(guò)于苗條和纖細(xì)，但這絲毫阻止不了人們從他飛躍的指間聽(tīng)到輕靈的熱情和開(kāi)放，聽(tīng)到吉普賽人那種與生俱來(lái)的純樸和自然，聽(tīng)著聽(tīng)著，聽(tīng)眾甚至有了一種更殘忍的怪問(wèn)題——如果當(dāng)時(shí)大火弄得他只剩下一個(gè)健全的手指，他是不是更能練成傳說(shuō)中的“一陽(yáng)指”而讓人無(wú)法超越？！
1953年，萊恩哈特因?yàn)橹酗L(fēng)在法國(guó)的楓丹白露去世，享年43歲，而在他死后的50年之后，他的琴聲依然印刻在專輯里被全球的人們紀(jì)念著，就像這套唱片。他應(yīng)該會(huì)感到欣慰的，尤其還有一點(diǎn)，即使當(dāng)年跟著他屁股后面跑龍?zhí)椎暮嗬?middot;薩爾瓦多（Henri Salvador）都已成了一代宗師了，他也確實(shí)應(yīng)該感到滿足了。
Django Reinhardt was the first hugely influential jazz figure to emerge from Europe — and he remains the most influential European to this day, with possible competition from Joe Zawinul, George Shearing, John McLaughlin, his old cohort Stephane Grappelli and a bare handful of others. A free-spirited gypsy, Reinhardt wasnt the most reliable person in the world, frequently wandering off into the countryside on a whim. Yet Reinhardt came up with a unique way of propelling the humble acoustic guitar into the front line of a jazz combo in the days before amplification became widespread. He would spin joyous, arcing, marvelously inflected solos above the thrumming base of two rhythm guitars and a bass, with Grappellis elegantly gliding violin serving as the perfect foil. His harmonic concepts were startling for their time — making a direct impression upon Charlie Christian and Les Paul, among others — and he was an energizing rhythm guitarist behind Grappelli, pushing their groups into a higher gear. Not only did Reinhardt put his stamp upon jazz, his string band music also had an impact upon the parallel development of Western swing, which eventually fed into the wellspring of what is now called country music. Although he could not read music, with Grappelli and on his own, Reinhardt composed several winsome, highly original tunes like Daphne, Nuages and Manoir de Mes Reves, as well as mad swingers like Minor Swing and the ode to his record label of the 30s, Stomping at Decca. As the late Ralph Gleason said about Djangos recordings, They were European and they were French and they were still jazz.
A violinist first and a guitarist later, Jean Baptiste Django Reinhardt grew up in a gypsy camp near Paris where he absorbed the gypsy strain into his music. A disastrous caravan fire in 1928 badly burned his left hand, depriving him of the use of the fourth and fifth fingers, but the resourceful Reinhardt figured out a novel fingering system to get around the problem that probably accounts for some of the originality of his style. According to one story, during his recovery period, Reinhardt was introduced to American jazz when he found a 78 RPM disc of Louis Armstrongs Dallas Blues at an Orleans flea market. He then resumed his career playing in Parisian cafes until one day in 1934 when Hot Club chief Pierre Nourry proposed the idea of an all-string band to Reinhardt and Grappelli. Thus was born the Quintet of the Hot Club of France, which quickly became an international draw thanks to a long, splendid series of Ultraphone, Decca and HMV recordings.
The outbreak of war in 1939 broke up the Quintette, with Grappelli remaining in London where the group was playing and Reinhardt returning to France. During the war years, he led a big band, another quintet with clarinetist Hubert Rostaing in place of Grappelli, and after the liberation of Paris, recorded with such visiting American jazzmen as Mel Powell, Peanuts Hucko and Ray McKinley. In 1946, Reinhardt took up the electric guitar and toured America as a soloist with the Duke Ellington band but his appearances were poorly received. Some of his recordings on electric guitar late in his life are bop escapades where his playing sounds frantic and jagged, a world apart from the jubilant swing of old. However, starting in Jan. 1946, Reinhardt and Grappelli held several sporadic reunions where the bop influences are more subtly integrated into the old, still-fizzing swing format. In the 1950s, Reinhardt became more reclusive, remaining in Europe, playing and recording now and then until his death from a stroke in 1953. His Hot Club recordings from the `30s are his most irresistible legacy; their spirit and sound can be felt in current groups like Hollands Rosenberg Trio.