Today's the Day

The great Django Rheinhardt would have been 100 today. Enjoy this.

True Guitar Hero

Your Gypsy jazz fix

Notice the D-shaped sound hole on the guitar and the cutaway on the body that allows the player to reach the lower frets. What you can't see here is the slotted head of the steel-string guitar, which resembles a nylon-string intsrument. These and other features mark the Gypsy-jazz guitar player's intrument as distinctive. Also the fact that Gypsy jazz is usually played with acoustic guitars, as opposed to most other jazz, in whice the guitars are electric. More here and here.

Gypsy Jazz Explained

Listen to this great interview with the Hot Club of San Francisco

More Christmas Jazz

From the master himself. Happy holidays, everyone.

The Improvising Brain

According to research, the part of the brain that regulates behavior and performance goes dormant when a musician "lets go" and improvises. That same part of the brain is highly engaged when a musician is reading music or playing a memorized piece. Makes sense.

What about chess? Some players are highly analytical and deliberate; the playing style of others could reasonably be termed improvisational, no? Would the brain scan of, say, a sedulous postional player such as Botvinnik look different from that of an exciting tactician like Tal?

Hat tip: Britannica Blog