Swing 41

Swing 41 is an original composition by Django Reinhardt and one of several pieces in his series of numbered "Swing" compositions, alongside titles such as Swing 39, Swing 42 and Swing 48. Django first recorded the piece in Paris in 1940, during the wartime period in which his music was moving away from the original violin-led Hot Club sound toward new arrangements featuring clarinet and saxophone.

Django Reinhardt recorded Swing 41 twice. The first recording was made in Paris on 13 December 1940 with Hubert Rostaing on clarinet, Alix Combelle on reeds, Joseph Reinhardt on rhythm guitar, Tony Rovira on bass and Pierre Fouad on drums. Django returned to the composition on 29 August 1947, recording a new version with electric guitar, Maurice Meunier on clarinet, Eugène Vées on rhythm guitar, Emmanuel Soudieux on bass and André Jourdan on drums.

Musical character:
Swing 41 is a sophisticated medium-up swing composition with an unusual harmonic character. Much of the tune moves between minor harmony and chords separated by semitone relationships, giving the piece a distinctive tension and colour compared with more conventional swing standards. Its repeating harmonic sections create plenty of space for improvisation while the written arrangement adds riffs and ensemble passages around the soloists.

Connection to Manouche Jazz:
The connection could hardly be more direct: Swing 41 was written and recorded by Django Reinhardt himself. At the same time, the original 1940 recording demonstrates an important stage in the evolution of his music. With Stéphane Grappelli absent from wartime Paris, Django developed a new quintet sound centred around guitar and clarinet, particularly through his collaboration with Hubert Rostaing. Swing 41 therefore belongs both to the core Django repertoire and to an important transitional period in the history of Gypsy Jazz.

Interesting facts:

• Swing 41 was composed by Django Reinhardt.
• The first recording was made in Paris on 13 December 1940.
• That session also produced one of Django's most famous compositions, Nuages, as well as Vendredi 13.
• The 1940 recording features Hubert Rostaing on clarinet, one of Django's most important musical partners during the war years.
• The arrangement makes use of instrumental riffs behind Django's solo and exchanges material between guitar and clarinet, showing that the piece was conceived as more than simply a melody followed by solos.
• Django returned to Swing 41 in 1947, this time playing electric guitar and giving the composition a noticeably different post-war sound.
• The tune forms part of Django's informal family of numbered swing compositions, documenting different stages of his musical development across the 1930s and 1940s.

Swing 41 captures Django Reinhardt at an important moment of change. Written during the wartime transformation of his ensemble, it combines the unmistakable language of Gypsy Swing with the richer arrangements and reed-based sound of his new quintet. Django's decision to record the piece again seven years later also shows that it remained meaningful to him as his own playing and conception of jazz continued to evolve.