Cheap Stephane Grappelli: A Life in the Jazz Century (DVD) (Stephane Grappelli) Price

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Customer Reviews of Stephane Grappelli: A Life in the Jazz Century

Magnifique!!!
I can't say enough about this DVD. Not only do you get to see Grappelli in various photos and film/video clips over a 60 year period playing with the likes of Nigel Kennedy, Martin Taylor, Yehudi Menuhin, Diz Dizley, and Django Reinhardt (supposedly every Django clip known), you also get to see him in a number of settings including a taping of This Is Your Life back in the 70s when his daughter and grandsons joined him on stage.

The documentary begins with the story of his early years and a reinactment of a twelve year old Grappelli playing his student violin in a courtyard in Paris. From there we learn about his earlier career as a silent movie pianist and a pianist/violinist with Gregor and the Gregorians (great accompanying film here). From there we see him meeting up with Django and forming the Hot Club Quintet where they performed for seven years before some of the biggest celebrities of their day and changed jazz forever. Following the story of the breakup of the band prompted by the outbreak of WWII in England, we see the Stephane Grappelli Quintet and are introduced to the surviving octogenarian bassist from that band. Next is the reunion with Django and the story of his untimely death, followed by an account of the lean years for swing music (late 40s and 50s) where Stephane played mostly in restaurants in England and France. The part I truly enjoyed is the story of the rebirth of Grappelli's career after the Cambridge Folk Festival where a whole new generation of jazz and folk music fans discovered his genius and unique musical style. Finally, we see Grappelli's final years where he is still being productive and creative, although his health is obviously declining. (The interviews with Grappelli were recorded a year before his death when he was 88 and quite weak).

Also included on this 2 DVD set are a photo montage, a behind the scenes account of the making of the documentary, interviews with Nigel Kennedy, Diz Dizley, and Martin Taylor, a promo for the movie, 11 bonus chapters, 7 music archive clips, research notes, a bibliography, a discography, internet links, and a map of Montmartre where Grappelli grew up. In addition the viewer is given the option of watching the movie with the creator's commentaries, or with subtitles. (Trust me, you'll need subtitles for most of the interviews with Grappelli.)

My only disappointment is that there were no video clips or references to Grappelli playing with people like Jean-Luc Ponty, David Grisman, and Mark O'Connor. To me that would have made this DVD effort flawless. Still, this is too good to deserve anything less than 5 stars. Great job, guys.

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Marvelous!
This is a nearly flawless production. The main feature is a 2-hour documentary on Stephane Grappelli, starting with his birth and including film clips (with sound) from one of his pre-Django gigs. A very interesting film clip of Stephane & Django is also included, as are performances with Yehudi Menuhin, George Shearing, Diz Disley & Martin Taylor. The documentary is held together by interview segments with Grappelli.

The second DVD in the set includes complete versions of some of the performance clips excerpted in the documentary & more commentary from Nigel Kennedy, Menuhin, Martin Taylor and others. There are short pieces on Grappelli's technique and his piano playing (I wish the latter had been expanded). An audio segment includes several complete tracks also excerpted in the documentary. A segment on the making of the documentary shows both what a labor of love it was & some of the digital technology used in its production.

If you love jazz, get this DVD - you won't be disappointed.