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Stéphane Grappelli (26 January 1908 – 1 December 1997) was a French
French people

French people can refer to:* The legal residents and citizens of France, regardless of ancestry. For a legal discussion, see French nationality law....
 jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 violin
Violin

The violin is a Bow string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
ist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France
Quintette du Hot Club de France

Quintette du Hot Club de France was a jazz group founded in France in 1934 by guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist St?phane Grappelli, and active in one form or another until 1948....
 with guitar
Guitar

The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six Strings , but Tenor guitar, Seven-string guitar, Eight-string guitar, Ten-string guitar, Eleven-string guitar, Twelve-string guitar, Thirteen-string guitar and doubleneck guitar string guitars also exist....
ist Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt

Jean-Baptiste "Django" Reinhardt was a Belgian Gypsy jazz guitarist.One of the first prominent European jazz musicians, Reinhardt remains one of the most renowned jazz guitarists due to his innovative and distinctive playing....
 in 1934. It was one of the first (and arguably the most famous) of all-string jazz bands.

For the first three decades of his career, he was billed as Stéphane Grappelly, reverting to "Grappelli" in 1969. The "Grappelli" spelling is now used almost universally when referring to the violinist -- even on reissues of his early work.

pelli was born in Paris, France to Italian parents: his father, marquess
Marquess

A marquess or marquis is a nobleman of hereditary rank in various European monarchies and some of their colonies. The term is also used to render equivalent oriental styles as in imperial China and Japan....
 Ernesto Grappelli was born in Alatri
Alatri

Alatri is a town and comune of province of Frosinone in the Italy region of the Lazio, with c. 30,000 inhabitants. A part of the traditional region of Ciociaria, it is famous for its megalithic acropolis....
 (Lazio).






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Stéphane Grappelli (26 January 1908 – 1 December 1997) was a French
French people

French people can refer to:* The legal residents and citizens of France, regardless of ancestry. For a legal discussion, see French nationality law....
 jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 violin
Violin

The violin is a Bow string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
ist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France
Quintette du Hot Club de France

Quintette du Hot Club de France was a jazz group founded in France in 1934 by guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist St?phane Grappelli, and active in one form or another until 1948....
 with guitar
Guitar

The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six Strings , but Tenor guitar, Seven-string guitar, Eight-string guitar, Ten-string guitar, Eleven-string guitar, Twelve-string guitar, Thirteen-string guitar and doubleneck guitar string guitars also exist....
ist Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt

Jean-Baptiste "Django" Reinhardt was a Belgian Gypsy jazz guitarist.One of the first prominent European jazz musicians, Reinhardt remains one of the most renowned jazz guitarists due to his innovative and distinctive playing....
 in 1934. It was one of the first (and arguably the most famous) of all-string jazz bands.

For the first three decades of his career, he was billed as Stéphane Grappelly, reverting to "Grappelli" in 1969. The "Grappelli" spelling is now used almost universally when referring to the violinist -- even on reissues of his early work.

Biography


Early years

Grappelli was born in Paris, France to Italian parents: his father, marquess
Marquess

A marquess or marquis is a nobleman of hereditary rank in various European monarchies and some of their colonies. The term is also used to render equivalent oriental styles as in imperial China and Japan....
 Ernesto Grappelli was born in Alatri
Alatri

Alatri is a town and comune of province of Frosinone in the Italy region of the Lazio, with c. 30,000 inhabitants. A part of the traditional region of Ciociaria, it is famous for its megalithic acropolis....
 (Lazio). His mother died when he was four and his father left to fight in World War I. As a result he was sent to an orphanage. Grappelli started his musical career busking
Busking

Busking is the practice of performance in public places for tips and gratuities. People engaging in this practice are called buskers. Busking performances are widely varied, and can include acrobatics, animal tricks, balloon modeling, card tricks, clowning, comedy, contortionist & escapologist, dance, Fire eater, fortune-telling, juggl...
 on the streets of Paris and Montmartre
Montmartre

Montmartre is a hill which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18eme arrondissement, Paris, a part of the Rive Droite....
 with a violin. He began playing the violin at age 12, and attended the Conservatoire de Paris
Conservatoire de Paris

The Conservatoire de Paris is a music college founded in 1795, based in Paris, France. It offers instruction in music and drama of the highest standards, drawing on the traditions of the "French School."...
 studying music theory, between 1924 and 1928. He continued to busk on the side until he gained fame in Paris as a violin virtuoso. He also worked as a silent film
Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially spoken dialogue. The idea of combining motion pictures with recorded sound is nearly as old as film itself, but because of the technical challenges involved, synchronized dialogue was only made possible in the late 1920s with the introduction of the Vitaphone system....
 pianist while at the conservatory and played the saxophone and accordion. Grappelli called his piano "My Other Love" and (many years later) released an album of solo piano of the same name.

For the first three decades of his musical career, Grappelli was billed as Stéphane Grappelly. Grappelli's own explanation for the changed spelling was that he was tried of people mispronouncing his last name as "Grappell-eye". It has also been suggested that Grappelli changed his name in order to avoid military service in Italy, although this claim has been greeted with skepticism by Grappelli's biographers.

His early fame came playing with the Quintette du Hot Club de France with Django Reinhardt, which disbanded in 1939 due to World War II. In 1940, a little known jazz pianist by the name of George Shearing
George Shearing

Sir George Shearing Order of the British Empire is a United Kingdom jazz pianist who, during the 1950s, had a popular Jazz group for MGM Records and Capitol Records....
 made his debut as a sideman in Grappelli's band.

Post-war

After the war he appeared on hundreds of recordings including sessions with Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and bandleader.Duke Ellington was recognized during his life as one of the most influential Jazz royalty, if not in all American music and he is of only four jazz musicians ever to have been featured on the cover of Time magazine ....
, jazz pianists Oscar Peterson
Oscar Peterson

Oscar Emmanuel Peterson, Order of Canada, National Order of Quebec, Order of Ontario was a Canada jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends, and was a member of jazz royalty....
, Michel Petrucciani
Michel Petrucciani

Michel Petrucciani , was a France Jazz pianist.Michel Petrucciani came from an Italo-French family with a musical background. His father Tony played guitar and his brother Louis played bass....
 and Claude Bolling
Claude Bolling

Claude Bolling , is a renowned France jazz piano, composer, arranger, and occasional actor.He was born in Cannes, studied at the Nice Conservatory, then in Paris, France....
, jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty
Jean-Luc Ponty

Jean-Luc Ponty is a French virtuoso violinist and jazz composer....
, jazz violinist Stuff Smith
Stuff Smith

Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith , better known as Stuff Smith, was a jazz violinist.Smith was, along with St?phane Grappelli and Joe Venuti, one of jazz music's preeminent violinists of the swing music era....
, Indian classical violinist L. Subramaniam
L. Subramaniam

Dr.Lakshminarayana Subramaniam is an acclaimed Indian violinist, composer and Conductor , trained in the classical Carnatic music tradition and Western classical music, and renowned for his virtuoso playing techniques and compositions in orchestral fusion....
, vibraphonist Gary Burton
Gary Burton

Gary Burton is an United States jazz vibraphone.A true original on the vibraphone, Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the usual two-mallets....
, pop singer Paul Simon
Paul Simon

Paul Frederic Simon is an United States singer-songwriter and musician, perhaps best known for his partnership with Art Garfunkel in the duo Simon & Garfunkel....
, mandolin player David Grisman
David Grisman

David Grisman is a Bluegrass music/Progressive bluegrass mandolinist and composer of acoustic music. In the early 1990s, he started the Acoustic Disc record label in an effort to preserve and spread acoustic or instrumental music....
, classical violinist Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin

Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, Order of Merit, Order of the British Empire was a violinist and conducting who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom....
, orchestral conductor André Previn
André Previn

Andr? Previn Order of the British Empire is a German-born American Academy Award and Grammy Award winning pianist, conducting, and composer. He first came to prominence by arranging and composing Hollywood film scores in 1948....
, guitar player Bucky Pizzarelli
Bucky Pizzarelli

John Paul 'Bucky' Pizzarelli is an United States classical jazz guitarist and banjoist, perhaps most notable for his work with jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli, his son....
, guitar player Joe Pass
Joe Pass

Joe Pass January 13, 1929 ? May 23, 1994) was a jazz guitarist. His extensive use of walking basslines, melodic counterpoint during improvisation, and use of a chord-melody style of play opened up new possibilities for jazz guitar and had a profound influence on future guitarists....
, cello player Yo Yo Ma, harmonica and jazz guitar player Toots Thielmans, jazz guitarist Henri Crolla
Henri Crolla

Henri Crolla was a French jazz guitarist and film composer. Born to a family of itinerant Neapolitan musicians, he moved with his family to Porte de Choisy in France in 1922 following the rise of fascism in Italy....
 and fiddler Mark O'Connor
Mark O'Connor

Mark O'Connor is a widely known professional fiddler, prominent in country music and in classical music. As a teenager he won national championships on the guitar, mandolin as well as the fiddle....
. He also collaborated extensively with the British guitarist and graphic designer Diz Disley
Diz Disley

William C. Disley is a Canadian/British jazz guitarist and graphic designer. He is best known for his jazz guitar playing, strongly influenced by Django Reinhardt, and for his collaborations with the violinist St?phane Grappelli....
, recording 13 record albums with him and his trio, and with now renowned British guitarist Martin Taylor
Martin Taylor

Martin Taylor MBE is a highly respected British jazz guitarist who has performed in groups, guitar ensembles and as an accompanist to many of the world?s most famous musicians....
.

He reverted the orthography of his last name to "Grappelli" in 1969, and almost all reissues of his earlier work now use the "Grappelli" spelling.

Grappelli's music is played very quietly, almost inaudibly, on Pink Floyd's
Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd are an English Rock music band who initially earned recognition for their psychedelic rock and space rock music, and later, as they evolved, for their progressive rock music....
 album Wish You Were Here
Wish You Were Here (album)

Wish You Were Here is a concept album by Pink Floyd. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios between January and July 1975 and released on 15 September 1975 , the album would later be regarded as one of Pink Floyd's greatest albums and was ranked 209 on Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list....
. The violinist was not credited, according to Roger Waters
Roger Waters

George Roger Waters is an England rock music musician. He is best known as the bass guitar player and one of the main songwriters in the English rock band Pink Floyd from 1964 to 1985....
, in order to avoid "a bit of an insult".

Grappelli made a cameo appearance in the 1978 film King of the Gypsies
King of the Gypsies (film)

King of the Gypsies is a 1978 in film Paramount Pictures film drama film starringEric Roberts, Sterling Hayden, Shelley Winters, Susan Sarandon, Brooke Shields, Annette O'Toole, and Judd Hirsch....
, along with noted mandolinist David Grisman
David Grisman

David Grisman is a Bluegrass music/Progressive bluegrass mandolinist and composer of acoustic music. In the early 1990s, he started the Acoustic Disc record label in an effort to preserve and spread acoustic or instrumental music....
. Three years later they performed together in concert, which was recorded live and released to critical acclaim.

In the 1980s he gave several concerts with the young British cellist Julian Lloyd Webber
Julian Lloyd Webber

Julian Lloyd Webber is one of the world's most renowned solo cellists....
.

In 1997, Grappelli received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

The Grammy Award Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to "performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording" ....
. He is an inductee of the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame
Down Beat

Down Beat is an United States magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years....
.

Grappelli is interred in Paris' famous Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Discography


Albums

Note: This is not complete, as many of his recordings were not transferred from vinyl, and some of his other discs are compilations.

  • Improvisations
    Improvisations (Stéphane Grappelli album)

    Improvisations is a jazz album recorded in 1956, in Paris, by St?phane Grappelli , Maurice Vander , Pierre Michelot and Baptist "Mac Kac" Reiles ....
     (Paris, 1956)
  • Djangoly: Django Reinhardt the gypsy genius (1936 to 1940)
  • Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhart the Gold Edition (1934 to 1937, copyright 1998)
  • Stephane Grappelli 1992 Live (1992, Verve)
  • Stephane Grappelli in Tokyo (1991, A & M records)
  • Just One Of Those Things (1984, EMI Studios)
  • Stephane Grappelli Live at the Blue Note (1996, Telarc Jazz)
  • Bill Coleman with Django and Stephane Grappelli 1936 to 1938 (released 1985, DRG Records)
  • Fascinating Rhythm (1986, Jazz Life)
  • Parisian Thoroughfare (1997, Laserlight)
  • Martin Taylor Reunion (1993, Linn Records)
  • The Intimate Grappelli (1988, Jazz Life)
  • Jazz Masters (20+-year compilation, 1994, Verve)
  • Michelle Legrand (1992, Verve)
  • Oscar Peterson Skol (1979, released 1990 Pablo)
  • Homage To Django (1972, released 1976 Classic Jazz)
  • Bach to the Beatles (1991, Academy Sound)
  • Stephane Grappelli Plays Jerome Kern(1987, GRP)
  • How Can You Miss, with Louis Bellson and Phil Woods (1989, Rushmore)
  • Crazy Rhythm (1996/2000, Pulse)
  • Young Django (1979, MPS)
  • Live in San Francisco (1986, Blackhawk)
  • 85 and Still Swinging (1993, Angel)
  • Vintage 1981 (1981, Concord)
  • Jean-Luc Ponty Violin Summit (1989, Jazz Life)
  • Martin Taylor: We've Got The World on a String (1984, EMI)
  • Stuff Smith: Violins No End (1984, Pablo)
  • Sonny Lester Collection (1980, LRC)
  • Stephane Grappelli and Joe Venuti: Venupelli Blues (1979, Affinity)
  • Shades of Django (1975, MPS)
  • Afternoon in Paris (1971, MPS)
  • Live at Carnegie Hall (1978, Signature)
  • Jazz 'Round Midnight (1989, Verve)
  • Unique Piano Session Paris 1955 (1955, Jazz Anthology)
  • Stephane Grappelli and Cordes (1977, Musidisc)
  • Satin Doll (1975, Vanguard)
  • Manoir de Mes Reves (1972, Musidisc)
  • Grappelli Plays George Gershwin (1984, Musidisc)
  • Stephane Grappelli (PYE)
  • Stephane Grappelli - i got rhythm! (1974 Black Lion Records
    Black Lion Records

    Black Lion Records was a jazz record label based out of London, England.Black Lion was founded by Alan Bates in 1968. The label had two "series" of releases, one for British jazz musicians and one for international musicians....
    ) with Diz Disley
    Diz Disley

    William C. Disley is a Canadian/British jazz guitarist and graphic designer. He is best known for his jazz guitar playing, strongly influenced by Django Reinhardt, and for his collaborations with the violinist St?phane Grappelli....
    , Denny Wright
    Denny Wright

    Denny Wright was a jazz and skiffle guitarist, who performed with Stephane Grappelli, Lonnie Donegan, Johnny Duncan , Digby Fairweather and many other musicians....
     and Len Skeat
    Len Skeat

    Len Skeat is an England jazz double-bassist born in East London, England, perhaps best-known for his work with the Ted Heath band. Skeat has recorded with some prominent jazz artists, such as Mel Torm?, Ben Webster, Billy Eckstine, Lionel Hampton, Scott Hamilton , Helen Merrill, Lou Rawls, Harry Edison, Denny Wright, Digby Fairweather, Spik...
     recorded at the Queen Elizabeth Hall
    Queen Elizabeth Hall

    The Queen Elizabeth Hall is a music venue on the South Bank in London, England that hosts daily European classical music, jazz, and avant-garde music and dance performances....
    , London, 5th November, 1973
  • Diz Disley
    Diz Disley

    William C. Disley is a Canadian/British jazz guitarist and graphic designer. He is best known for his jazz guitar playing, strongly influenced by Django Reinhardt, and for his collaborations with the violinist St?phane Grappelli....
     Live at Carnegie Hall
    Carnegie Hall

    Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City located at 881 Seventh Avenue , occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street , two blocks south of Central Park....
     (1983, Dr Jazz)
  • The Rock Peter and the Wolf
    The Rock Peter and the Wolf

    The Rock Peter and the Wolf was an arrangement of songs of the classic Peter and the Wolf story, in an album released in 1975, by Jack Lancaster and Robin Lumley....
     (1976 RSO Records) (2007 CD Verdant Records) with Jack Lancaster
    Jack Lancaster

    Jack Lancaster is a British composer, record producer and musician.In the late 1960s, Lancaster co-founded the British rock group Blodwyn Pig with Jethro Tull guitarist Mick Abrahams....
    , Phil Collins
    Phil Collins

    Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, Royal Victorian Order, is an England singer-songwriter, drummer, keyboardist and actor best known as the lead singer and drummer of England progressive rock group Genesis and as a Grammy Award and Academy Award-winning solo artist....
    , Brian Eno
    Brian Eno

    Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno , is an England musician, composer, record producer, music theory and singer, who, as a solo artist, is best known as the People known as the father or mother of something of ambient music....
    , Gary Brooker
    Gary Brooker

    Gary Brooker, Order of the British Empire, is an English people singer, songwriter, pianist and founder of the rock band Procol Harum. Brooker was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours on 14 June 2003 in recognition of his Charitable organization services....
    , Gary Moore
    Gary Moore

    Gary Moore is a Northern Irish guitarist. In a career dating back to the 1960s, he has played with artists including Thin Lizzy, Colosseum II, Greg Lake and the Blues-rock band Skid Row , as well as having a successful solo career....
    , Alvin Lee
    Alvin Lee

    Alvin Lee is an English people guitarist and singer. He began playing guitar at the age of 13, and with Leo Lyons formed the core of the band Ten Years After in 1960....
    . Manfred Mann
    Manfred Mann

    Manfred Mann are a United Kingdom Beat music, rhythm and blues and popular music band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboard player and founder, who later led the successful 1970s follow-on group Manfred Mann's Earth Band....
     etc.


Collaborations

  • Stephane Grappelli and Claude Bolling: First Class (1992, Milan)
  • Stephane Grappelli and Gary Burton: Paris Encounter (1972, Atlantic)
  • Stephane Grappelli and Hubert Clavecin: Dansez Sur Vos Souvenirs (Musidisc)
  • Stephane Grappelli and David Grisman Live (1981, Warner Brothers)
  • Stephane Grappelli and Barney Kessel: Remember Django (1969, Black Lion)
  • Stephane Grappelli and Barney Kessel: Limehouse Blues (1972, Black Lion)
  • Stephane Grappelli and Yo Yo Ma: Anything Goes (1989)
  • Menuhin and Grappelli Play Berlin, Kern, Porter and Rodgers & Hart (1973 to 1985, EMI)
  • Stephane Grappelli and Yehudi Menuhin: Jalousie (1975, EMI)
  • Stephane Grappelli and Helen Merrill (1986, Music Makers)
  • Stephane Grappelli and Oscar Peterson (1973, Musicdisc)
  • Stephane Grappelli and Jean-Luc Ponty: Compact Jazz (1988, MPS)
  • Stephane Grappelli and The George Shearing Trio: The Reunion (1977, MPS)
  • Stephane Grappelli and Martial Solal (1980, MPO)
  • Stephane Grappelli and Martial Solal: Olympia 1988 (1988, Atlantic)
  • Stephane Grappelli with Marc Fosset Stephanova (Concord Jazz, 1983)
  • Stephane Grappelli and Dr. L. Subramaniam: Conversations (1992, Milestone)
  • Stephane Grappelli and Toots Thielemans: Bringing it Together (1984, Cymekob)
  • Stephane Grappelli and McCoy Tyner
    McCoy Tyner

    Alfred McCoy Tyner is a jazz piano from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career....
    ; One on One
    One on One (Stephane Grappelli & McCoy Tyner album)

    One on One is a 1990 album by St?phane Grappelli and McCoy Tyner released on the Milestone Records label. It was recorded in April 1990 and features ten duo performances by Tyner and Grappelli....
     (1990, Milestone)
  • Stephane Grappelli and Joe Venuti: Best of Jazz Violins (1989, LRC)
  • Violin Summit: Stephane Grappelli, Stuff Smith, Svend Asmussen, Jean-Luc Ponty (1967, Polygram)
  • Stéphane Grappelli and Baden Powell: La Grande Reunion (1974, Accord)
  • Stephane Grapellli and Paul Simon "Paul Simon" (9) 1972 Hobo's Blues (Columbia 1972)
  • Stephane Grappelli and Earl Hines: Stephane Grappelli meets Earl Hines
  • Stephane Grappelli and Michel Petrucciani: "Flamingo" (Dreyfus 1996)


Please note that the ARChive hold a copy of DJANGOLOGY, a 10" 78rpm on Decca, by "Spephan Grappelly and His Hot Four"on the label.

Further reading


External links

  • by Scott Albin at jazz.com.
  • on AdventuresInMusic.biz, 2004