Stephane Grappelli, the legendary jazz violinist, doesn`t pretend to know why his career and his art continue to flourish now that he`s an octogenarian. ”I am quite surprised,” the Frenchman says with a chuckle on the eve of his Chicago appearance Friday through Sunday at George`s (on West Kinzie Street).
”But I am not the only one to be so lucky to be performing at 80. I remember a dear old friend living to 100 and playing when he was 92-so why not me?”
Why not indeed, considering the singularity of his art and the sureness of its evolution.
Though there have been other jazz violinists (Joe Venuti, Eddie South, even Yehudi Menuhin has dabbled in the art form), Grappelli long ago established himself as the most persuasive.
Here was a fiddler who combined the rigors and refinements of classical playing with the whimsical rhythms and bittersweet melodies of American jazz. Yet when Grappelli first appeared on the Parisian club scene in the `30s, the phrase ”jazz violinist” was considered a contradiction in terms.
”Yes, in those days my kind of music was not very well known, because we did not have `jazz concerts` as we do now,” Grappelli recalls.
”We did not play for an audience that sits as quietly for jazz as they did in the concert hall or the theater.
”In those days, every musician-apart from the classical artists-played for dancing.
”But I felt that the violin was not strong enough to be heard in a dance orchestra, because we had no microphones at that point.
”So in 1933, I decided-with (jazz guitarist) Django Reinhardt-to change everything.
We thought: `Why not listen to music instead of dance to it?`
”Django and I began playing in small clubs in Paris (as part of the Quintet of the Hot Club of France) for 120 people at most.
”We decided to be heard-and we were.
”And later, when the microphone became popular, for the first time I started to hear other young jazz violinists.”
Most were influenced by Grappelli, but none had quite the same suavity with a melodic line or an equal ease with the vernacular of American music. Whether this idiom came naturally to Grappelli because he grew up listening to it or for more ephemeral reasons is a question Grappelli says he can`t answer. He only knows that the syncopated sounds of jazz in the `20s and `30s have pervaded his thoughts for as long as he can remember.
”I cannot really say why I went from classical music to jazz, except that this is how it went,” Grappelli says.
”I always loved this music, and you must do what you love in this life.
”I cannot even say why I picked the violin, except to say that I did not pick the trumpet.
”But you can play jazz on anything; the instrument does not matter.
”It always came naturally to me. You cannot learn jazz, you see.
”You`ve got it or not, eh?”
So Grappelli keeps playing his beloved jazz, and these days he`s enjoying packed houses and standing ovations most everywhere he performs, which is anywhere with an intimate ambiance and listeners who appreciate sophisticated song. Life on the road, it seems, doesn`t bother him a bit.
”Why do I still travel so much?” Grappelli says. ”First, because that`s one of my hobbies. I love to travel, and I hate to stay anywhere too long-I get fed up.
”The world, you know, has changed much since I began, and it has been fascinating to watch.
Now you can have a plane with 300 people in it, when 60 years ago you could not do it.
”Jazz has changed, too, like everything else, like the design of cars. I would not say, though, that jazz is better or worse today-la vie continue.
”My playing has changed also, although, basically, I have the same sound as I used to have.
”I`m not going to do like some musicians and give up all I have done all my life to play rock music.
”I just keep on doing what I do.”
If Grappelli has any regrets-and he sounds as if he has very few-he only wishes more people would understand that the greatest love of his life has been American music.
”You know what I would like?” he asks. ”Only a little decoration or honor from the U.S., because I`ve been playing American music for 66 years!
”Not only Gershwin, but Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, whom I knew very well, Irving Berlin-I met him a long time ago in Paris.
”Of course, I play music by other artists, too. I adore music by Michel Legrand-anybody, in fact, who can create a lovely melody.
”If I do not like it, I do not play it. A masochist I am not.
”But American music is my deepest love.”
No doubt American listeners return the compliment.
