The Maestro from Koblenz by Daniel Weltlinger

During the war years in France one of the greatest ironies of Django's career took place. He became a superstar. Although he was a handicapped Manouche Gypsy (he had a deformed left hand due to a caravan fire in earlier years) and was theoretically considered an 'untermensch' by the Vichy government and their overlords in Germany, he was paradoxically openly admired by many prominent Nazis. 'The Maestro' alludes to both Django's compositional and creative prowess during this period as well as the irony of his stardom during these dark times and the track utilizes the largest lineup on the album consisting of the 4 guitar players from the previous track, bass and violin with the addition of piano accompaniment (Daniel Pliner) and a sax (Ross Harrington), trombone (Mike Raper) and trumpet (Sam Golding). It is a very lively and far more harmonically adventurous and through composed work than the previous titles beginning with a horn exchange between the sax and trumpet leading into the melody played by the sax in an almost lazy Lester Young way which references the more modern direction music started to head towards during this period spearheaded expertly by Django.

Australian born, Berlin-based violinist/composer/producer. Regularly performing with a number of musicians and ensembles including my quartet under my name, The Asthmatix, Zohar's Nigun, Lulo Reinhardt Latin-Swing Project, Karsten Troyke, Sharon Brauner, Suzanna, Radio Django and Ensemble Olivinn amongst many others.

danielweltlinger.com
rectifyrecords.com
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