por Albert Offenbach*
Isso é o que aconteceu lá atrás, em 1938...
Fui para Deauville no feriado. Tinha dezoito anos. Naqueles dias, chás dançantes estavam na moda, então toda tarde eu ia para o chá dançante do Iate Clube, (que era dirigido por George Carpontiea, o ex-campeão francês de boxe), onde havia duas bandas. Uma era a banda dançante de Maurice Winnick; a outra, uma pequena banda cigana.
Na banda cigana, havia um guitarrista que tocava no estilo de Django. Eu não era muito bom de francês, mas consegui dizer-lhe que ele tocava como Django. Bem, ele ficou encantado de ouvir e disse que era o irmão de Django, Joseph. A medida que o via diariamente, ficamos bastante amigos e ele me disse que o Hot Club estaria tocando em Londres, no State Cinema Kilburn, dentro de alguns meses e se eu viesse aos bastidores vê-lo, ele me apresentaria a Django. Bem, isso não podia ser perdido, poderia? Então quando chegou a época, levei meu irmão mais novo (que tocava muito bem naquele tempo) e um amigo para ver o show.
Após o show, fomos para os bastidores ver se Joseph lembrava de mim. Ele lembrava e estava bastante contente em me ver, e me apresentou a Django, que era educado, mas não muito interessado no início. Então, vi a guitarra de Django deitada lá. Pensei que adoraria poder dizer que toquei a guitarra dele então perguntei se podia. Ele disse "claro!" Toquei alguns acordes no estilo do hot club e toda sua atitude mudou, ele se tornou muito amigável. Perguntei-lhe se gostaria de vir tomar um drinque num pub, ele aceitou e então disse ao resto do Hot Club que estávamos todos saindo para um drinque. Todos foram, exceto Stéphane Grappelly. No caminho para o pub, o amigo com o qual eu vinha disse "não vamos para o pub, vamos para casa para um drinque", e Django disse "OK".
Voltamos pra a casa de meu amigo, ele tinha um grande bar em casa, e tomamos alguns drinques. `Perguntei a Django se ele tocaria se eu trouxesse minhas guitarras. Ele disse sim, se eu tocasse com ele. Então, fui pegar minhas guitarras. Eu vivia muito perto da casa de meu amigo e tinha duas Gibsons. Uma comprara de Len Williams, o pai de John Williams por cinco libras, a outra era uma FDH Special.
Que emoção tocar para Django. Meu irmão mais novo era muito melhor guitarrista que eu e tinha pego o solo de Limehouse Blues da gravação de Django, e quando ele ouviu meu irmão tocar ficou encantado. Era realmente muito modesto e nunca se deu conta de tinha um séquito tão grande.
Depois de tocar um pouco, paramos, e começamos a colocar alguns discos no gramofone. Um deles era de Chick Webb, tocando ‘Undecided’, cantado por Ella Fitzgerald. Ele adorou e disse que gravaria. Disse que precisava de uma cantora, portanto recomendamos a cantora da Romany Band, uma garota chamada Beryl Davis.
Após mais alguns drinques, nós os levamos de volta para o hotel e nos despedimos. Pensei que seria o fim daquilo, mas dias mais tarde, Django me ligou e nos convidou para a casa noturna em que o Hot CLub estava tocando, chamada The Nut House, dirigida por Al Burnett. Pode-se imaginar como eu estava empolgado. Tinha uns dezoito anos na época, e convidado pelo grande Django.
Fomos para o clube, mas Al Burnett não nos deixou entrar, duvidando que tívessemos sido convidados por Django. No entanto, como eu não ia embora, consegui convencê-lo a verificar. Demorou um pouco, mas enfim ele o fez, e Django saiu dos bastidores e disse que éramos seus convidados. Tinha uma mesa reservada para nós na frente. Assistimos o show, dançamos um pouco, e por volta das 4h30 fomos para Lyons Corner House tomar café da manhã. O Quinteto todo, exceto Grappelli. Acho que ele era um pouco soberbo demais para nós naqueles tempos.
Django pagou a conta para todos. Tentei ressarci-lo, mas ele nem queria escutar. Bem, este é o fim da história.
Pouco tempo depois, eu estava no exército e desembarquei na praia da Normandia com uniforme completo e a minha guitarra, mas isto é outra história.
* tradução Marcio Beck
TEXTO ORIGINAL
The day I met Django
This is what happened way back in 1938...
I went to Deauville on holiday. I was eighteen. In those days tea dances were in, so every afternoon I went to the Yacht Club tea dance, (It was run by George Carpontiea the French ex boxing champ), there was two bands, one was Maurice Winnick's dance band, and the other a small Gypsy band.
In the Gypsy band was a guitarist who played in the style of Django. I was not much good at French, but I managed to tell him he played like Django, well he was delighted to hear it and told me he was Django’s brother, Joseph. As I saw him every day we got quite friendly and he told me that the Hot Club was playing in London at the “State Cinema” Kilburn, in a few months time and if I came back stage to see him he would introduce me to Django. Well that could not be missed could it! So when the time came I took my young brother (who played very well in those days) and a friend to see the show.
After the show we went back stage to see if Joseph remembered me, well he did and was very pleased to see me, he introduced me to Django who was polite but not very interested at first, then I saw Django’s guitar laying there. I thought I would love to be able to say I have played Django’s guitar so I asked him if I could and he said sure. I banged out a few chords in the hot club style and his whole attitude changed and he became very friendly. I asked him if he would like to come for a drink in the pub and he said yes, then he said to the rest of the hot club in French of course that we were all going for a drink, they all came except Stéphane Grappelly. On the way to the pub, the friend I came with said, lets not go to the pub lets go home for a drink, and Django said OK.
We got back to my friends house, he had a great bar in his house, and we had a few drinks, I then said to Django If I got my guitars would he play , he said yes if I played with him, so off I went to get my guitars, I lived very near my friends house. I had two Gibsons, one I bought from Len Williams the father of John Williams for £5, the other was a FDH Special.
What a thrill to play for Django. My young brother was a much better player than I was and he had taken the solo of Limehouse Blues, off the Django record, and when he heard my brother play he was delighted. He was really very modest and never realised he had such a big following.
After a bit of playing, we stopped, then started to play some gramophone records, one was of Chick Web playing undecided sung by Ella Fitzgerald. He loved it and said he would record it. He said he needed a singer for it, so we recommended the singer from the Romany Band, a girl called Beryl Davis.
After A few more drinks, we took them all back to their Hotel said good night and I thought that would be the end of it, but a couple of days later Django rang me and invited us all to the Night Club that the Hot Club was playing at, called The Nut House, run by All Burnett. Well, you can imagine how excited I was. A kid of eighteen then, invited by the great Django.
We went to the Club but All Burnette would not let us in, as he did not believe we had been invited by Django however I would not go, I persuaded him to check and it took some doing, but at last he did, and Django came out and told him we were his guests. He had a table reserved for us right in the front, we watched the show danced a bit with a few of the birds that were there, then at about 4.30PM we all went to Lyons Corner House for breakfast the whole hot club but not Grappely. I think he was a bit too posh for us in those days.
Django paid the bill for everybody, I tried to pay him back but he would not hear of it. Well thats the end of the story.
A short while after that I was in the army and actually landed on the beach in Normandy in full kit, and my guitar, but that is another story.
