Stéphane Grappelli (1908 to 1997) was a French jazz violinist who co-founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. He played on stage for more than 60 years and recorded with Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, Yehudi Menuhin, David Grisman, and Vassar Clements. The Recording Academy gave him a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997, and the National Fiddler Hall of Fame inducted him in 2016.
Why Grappelli matters
Grappelli proved that a violin could swing as hard as a horn. The Hot Club records of the 1930s put a bowed instrument at the front of a string band with no drums, which is the same problem every bluegrass fiddler faces. His long, smooth lines, his fast vibrato, and his habit of playing the chord changes instead of the melody reached American fiddlers through western swing and through players like Mark O’Connor, who toured with him as a teenager. When a contest fiddler plays a swing tune in the third round, some of the vocabulary is his.
Life and career
Grappelli was born in Paris on January 26, 1908, to an Italian father, Ernesto, and a French mother, Anna. His mother died when he was five. He spent the First World War in an orphanage and started violin at age 12 on a three-quarter size instrument his father bought by pawning a suit. He said his first lessons came from watching street violinists. He entered the Paris Conservatoire in December 1920 and finished in 1923. As a teenager he busked and played six hours a day for silent films at a Paris theater.
He found jazz on a coin-operated record player during breaks from a theater orchestra. Hearing Joe Venuti in 1928 showed him what a jazz violin could do. After a stretch on piano in a big band he returned to violin in 1929. In the summer of 1934 he and Django Reinhardt formed the Quintette du Hot Club de France with three guitars, violin, and bass. The group recorded Minor Swing, Djangology, and dozens of other sides and became the most famous jazz band in Europe.
The war split the group in 1939. Grappelli stayed in London through 1946, where a young George Shearing made his debut as his sideman in 1940. He reunited with Reinhardt for tours and records after the war, and Reinhardt died in 1953. Grappelli made his American debut in 1969 and worked a long residency at the Paris Hilton. A 1971 British television appearance with classical violinist Yehudi Menuhin started a run of duo albums, beginning with Jealousy in 1973. That same year he cut Black Lion at Montreux and I Got Rhythm! with the Diz Disley trio, and he recorded with Oscar Peterson.
His American string band period came late. He recorded Live with mandolinist David Grisman for Warner Bros. in 1981, with a teenage Mark O’Connor on guitar. In June 1985 he cut Together at Last with Vassar Clements in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, released by Flying Fish in 1987. He recorded Anything Goes with Yo-Yo Ma in 1989 and kept touring into the mid 1990s, some of it from a wheelchair. He died in Paris on December 1, 1997, at age 89.
Playing style
Grappelli held the bow light and kept it moving. His phrases were long and legato, with a fast, narrow vibrato that let a note sing without going sour. He played the changes. Where a fiddler might state a melody, he outlined each chord with arpeggios, chromatic runs, and a few bent blue notes, then landed on a chord tone right on the beat.
His tone stayed sweet at any tempo. He used the upper positions more than most fiddlers, and he used harmonics and quick slides as ornaments rather than as tricks. Menuhin compared his improvising to a juggler who throws his plates in the air and catches every one. That is the sound: risk in the line, safety in the landing.
Influences and legacy
Grappelli took his first jazz ideas from Joe Venuti, and he named Venuti as an inspiration for the rest of his life. His partnership with Django Reinhardt defined gypsy jazz. Later he worked with Jean-Luc Ponty, Stuff Smith, Oscar Peterson, and Yehudi Menuhin. In the American fiddle world Mark O’Connor toured and recorded with him as a teenager, and Vassar Clements and Darol Anger both drew on his approach to swing. The National Fiddler Hall of Fame calls him the grandfather of jazz violinists.
Signature tunes and songs
Minor Swing Djangology Swing 42 Sweet Georgia Brown Tiger Rag.
Essential recordings
Djangology, with Django Reinhardt (various reissues) Jealousy, with Yehudi Menuhin (EMI, 1973) I Got Rhythm! (Black Lion, 1974) Live, with David Grisman (Warner Bros., 1981) Together at Last, with Vassar Clements (Flying Fish, 1987)
Awards and honors
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1997) Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame National Fiddler Hall of Fame (2016)
Watch and listen
Reinhardt and Grappelli play Minor Swing. Listen to how Grappelli’s solo follows the chords rather than the tune.
Grappelli plays Minor Swing again in 1982, almost 50 years after the first recording. Watch the light bow and the vibrato.
What to learn from Grappelli
Learn Minor Swing. It has three chords and a short head, so all the work is in the solo. Play the arpeggio of each chord in time until you can hear the changes without a guitar. The technique to steal is his vibrato. It is fast and narrow, and he starts it a beat late so the note lands clean before it warms up. Add that to a waltz at a contest and the judges will hear the difference.
Sources
Stéphane Grappelli, National Fiddler Hall of Fame Stéphane Grappelli, Britannica Stéphane Grappelli, Wikipedia Stéphane Grappelli and David Grisman, Live, Discogs Stéphane Grappelli and Vassar Clements, Together at Last, Discogs
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the bluegrass fiddle guide for more. Grappelli learned from Joe Venuti and recorded with Vassar Clements and Mark O’Connor. Johnny Gimble and Claude “Fiddler” Williams carried swing violin into American fiddling.