There is no more emotionally evocative musical instrument for me than the violin and no more emotionally evocative violinist than Stéphane Grappelli.
The French jazz virtuoso is best known as co-founder of the Quintette du Hot Club de France, the first and most famous of the string jazz bands, with guitarist Django Reinhardt, but his most outstanding and rewarding work came later during a long career as a soloist.
The self-taught Grappelli had a distinctive style that mixed tender lyricism, seemingly effortless swinging and hard-edged riffing with extraordinary harmonics. I was fortunate to see him perform in 1976 when he was 68 years old but played like he was a young man. He performed until shortly before his death 10 years ago this week at the ripe old age of 89.
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