Django had no influence on Charles' playing. CC did however
influence Django. You can hear many of CC's phrases in Django's
solos around 1950 after he started playing electric guitar.

LV


--- In CharlieChristian@yahoogroups.com, "Snatch N. Grabster"
<snatchngrabster@...> wrote:
>
> I just picked up the French label complete Django Reinhardt discs,
> which present everything the man recorded in chronological order. I
> also read an excellent biography.
>
> When considered whether CC influenced Django's guitar playing, you
> first need to determine when he could have heard the records. When
> WWII started at the end of August 1939, Django and the Quintette of
> the Hot Club of France were on tour in the UK. Grappelli stayed in
> England for the duration, while Django went back to France, where he
> spent the war years.
>
> So, if Django heard the Goodman small group records with Christian,
it
> was in France during WWII. The "phony war" period ended in May
1940,
> when Germany defeated France and occupied most of it.
>
> Under the Nazis, French jazz was tolerated and Django reached new
> heights of popularity at home. While many other gypsys were rounded
> up and sent to concentration camps, Reinhardt was not.
>
> Charles Delauney and the Hot Club imported jazz discs from America
and
> this probably continued until America entered the war late in 1941.
> So, even under Nazi occupation or in Vichy France, chances are
> excellent that Django heard the Goodman small group sides with CC
> featured.
>
> Interestingly, during the war years Django fronted a big band
> featuring a clarinet player, and recorded several sides very much in
> the American mold, much like contemporary music made by Goodman or
his
> rival Artie Shaw.
>
> Some of these recordings include "riff" tunes, where Django's
playing
> seems definitely influenced by Charlie. In particular, I would cite
> the tracks Swing 42, recorded in 1942, and Place de Brouker, from
> 1943. The former is a small group, while the latter is big band.
>
> Of course, there are lots of differences. It still sounds like
Django
> is playing his Selmer acoustic, so naturally he doesn't have
Charlie's
> sustain. Django apparently started using a pickup and amp with the
> Selmer during the war years, at least on stage where being heard
above
> the band was often a problem. But otherwise, chances are he didn't
> really play an electric guitar until after WWII.
>
> So, while Django was apparently influenced by CC, at least as
> evidenced by a few WWII recordings, he was also influenced by many
> other things. You can hear a lot of Goodman and Shaw in the big
band
> recordings, but we also know Django was a big fan of Ellington. His
> conception of music was greater than just being a guitar soloist.
>
> He was a composer (although he could not read music) and during this
> period envisioned grander works on a symphonic scale, much like
> Ellington. After the war, he bacame a true bop fan and could play
> comfortably in the new style, although he could and did continue to
> play swing.
>
> Interestingly, when Goodman toured France around 1950, Django jammed
> with him in rehearsals, but failed to show up for the actual
> performance. There is the possibility that while Django had moved
on
> musically, Goodman had not, so the two were no longer playing on the
> same level.
>
> Chances are, had Charlie lived, a split with Goodman would have been
> inevitable, once bop hit, Charlie would have been pulled in that
> direction and away from Goodman, who did not understand or
appreciate
> the new music.
>