Gino Bordin - Virtuose De La Guitare Hawaiienne: 1930s Paris [Grass Skirt, 2009]

01. The Blue Bird
02. Crépuscule hawïen
03. Manuska
04. Hawaï nous appelle
05. Sérénade bleue
06. Retour d'Hawaï
07. J'écoute la guitare
08. En écoutant l'ukulélé
09. Addio Signora!
10. Hawaiian berceuse
11. Je n'ai plus personne
12. Reflet viennois
13. Viens dans ce joli pavillon
14. Hé hop la hé
15. C'est une valse qui chante
16. Waikiki en fête
17. One kiss
18. La destinée du marin
19. Le jeune pêcheur
20. L'ile aux rêves d'or
21. Chant d'amour de Tahiti
22. Ay, ay, ay
23. De tout mon caeur
24. Dans la nuit
25. Avant de mourir



Gino Bordin [1899-1977] was born on 4th February 1899 in Vicenza, in the north east Italy. His eldest brother led an orchestra in which Gino played the musical saw and sometimes harp-guitar acquired from Luigi Mozzani, at Cesta. There he struck up a friendship with the prodigy Mario Maccaferri.

His name first appeared beside that of Michel Péguri, an accordionist, on a Perfectaphone disc where the record label showed “ banjo : Gino Bordin”. Although he later abandoned this banjo for guitar and Hawaiian guitar, he continued to play with musette accordionists until the end of his career.

In the 20s Gino supported other accordionists on his guitar and chanteurs and chanteuses also began to call on his talents as accompanist and writer. All doors opened for him, and, significantly, those to the recording studios. When the record companies realised the sudden taste for Hawaiian guitar, the slenderness of their catalogue licensed from America in this genre and the need to add a repertoire more to French public taste, they turned naturally to Gino Bordin, already a virtuoso on the instrument.

Perfectaphone recorded Dreamland and Beautiful Hawaï by Gino Bordin, Hawaiian guitar. Then Pathé issued in early 1928 four other covers of standards interpreted by a Hawaiian Trio, Bordin, Kamenetsky and de Lignori. From then Gino Bordin went on to record hundreds of titles for at least 15 labels, in his own name and also under various pseudonyms. We can count at least 120 sides for Parlophone, over 60 for Polydor and Pagode, at least 20 for Pathé. The Odéon label issued over 30 to which we should add English pressings on Decca and Ariel, those on Columbia and Polydor in Japan, Parlophone in Australia and Brazil. There were yet more titles on Salabert, Omnia, Grammophon, Supraphon, Disc Art, Gladiator, Colisée, MP, Clarus, Discum, Unifix and, after WW2, Pacific, Vogue, Mode, Mondo Music, Nixa, Saturne and Charmilles... that’s without counting the many discs he played on where the record label credit simply read: Hawaiian trio or Hawaiian Guitar



Gino Bordin adapted the guitar from Honolulu to every musical style. There were only a handful of Hawaiian standards or hapa haole tunes, but there were many originals including classical, in all sorts of orchestrations, from guitar duo to large string formations, in instrumental versions or with refrain. SACEM (the music copyright agency) handles a catalogue of about forty works written by Gino Bordin either alone or with co-writers Gardoni, Ferrari, Viseur and Saarbecoff. That short list doesn’t tell the full story because published sheet music and record labels show that he was the prolific writer of dozens more instrumental pieces and songs.

French radio stations broadcast Gino Bordin’s records widely and also invited him to play live in their studios. Then Radio Lausanne and stations from Hilversum in Holland spread his fame throughout Europe.

Now a star on records and radio, Gino increased the number of his concerts and tours. Since 1926 he had sported the white Hawaiian outfit and red silk sash, slipped the lei around his neck, posed with guitar flat on his lap and livened up the dance-halls of the casinos, at Dinard, Saint Jean-de-Luz and Monte-Carlo. In 1931 his orchestra consisted of three dancers in exotic dress, Alex Manara on second Hawaiian guitar, Vincent Kamenetsky on guitar and Joseph Puni, the authentic Hawaiian, on ukulele. Later Le Trio Havaïen saw Gino flanked by Jean Stéfani and André Thomas, Tino Rossi’s guitarists. As for the Bordin-Manara duo ...that was seen at every possible opportunity, and notably opened for Édith Piaf at the ABC in 1937. Gino Bordin played on all the great Paris stages, Paramount, Gaumont, Rex, Alhambra, Bobino, Européen, Vel’ d’Hiv, at the Carlton in Cannes, at Monte Carlo’s Palm Beach, at Maxim’s in Athens. He criss-crossed North Africa, went as far as Alexandria and Cairo, and went through Lausanne, Zurich, The Hague, Amsterdam and Rotterdam. During the war a lengthy tour took him to the Wintergardens in Vienna and Berlin and all across Germany to Prague and Warsaw

In France the guitar from Hawaii owes its popularity to Gino Bordin. At first he used a pear shaped acoustic Hawaiian guitar then being made in the Vosges. In 1932 Mario Maccaferri produced for Selmer his jazz guitar with resonator chamber which Django made famous and he designed at the same time a 7 string Hawaiian model without cutaway, an idea conceived with his friend Gino. In early 1936 it was Maccaferri who again brought him right up to date when he returned from a USA visit carrying under his arms a National lap steel electric 7 string, immediately christened the “Magic Guitar” by Gino and plugged in at the studio in May that same year. Gino, pioneer of the electric guitar, had already contributed to the instrument’s evolution by adding a low seventh string in 1931 and using a seventh tuning, then later a 6th tuning. His Nouvelle Méthode de Guitare Hawaïenne à Sept Cordes (New Hawaiian Guitar Method for 7 strings) published in 1935 by Max Eschig contained a “Transposer”, a cardboard device with holes which denote on the frets the location of notes for each chord. Based on a similar principle he also produced a set of 16 cards “500 guitar chords by the perforated strip system”. He published collections of arrangements for the instrument and up until the mid 1960s gave lessons at his home on or in the posh colleges of the southern suburbs. During this period Gino was still appearing in cabaret and still playing on stage with Fredo Gardoni. His career had lasted all through the 40s and 50s. He accompanied Patrice and Mario, then Tino Rossi once more ...and Lucienne Delyle too, while his records for Pacific and Vogue had wide distribution and the younger generation of players, Harry Hougassian and Marcel Bianchi considered him a master. From 1965 however Dupuytren’s Contracture reduced the movement in his left hand and forced him gradually to rein in his musical activity. In 1969 he retired to l’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. And that’s where he has been at rest since 14 July 1977 - liners

superb hawaiian gypsy jazz. darker & more doleful than the typical fare & perhaps more timeless as a result, but then i do dig the somber schtuff. would certainly love to find this in more prestigious bits, but til then this'll hafta do :)

Matelo Ferrét ~ Tziganskaïa 1960-78 [Hot Club, 1988]

01 Montagne Sainte Genevieve 2:02
02 Gagoug 2:33
03 Chez Jacquet 2:20
04 Choti 1:53
05 Tziganskaïa 3:06
06 Songe D'Automne 2:47
07 Mademoiselle De Bucharest 2:02
08 Gagoug 3:19
09 In Einer Kleinen American Bar 1:58
10 Cher Ami 2:49
11 Sombre Dimanche 3:01
12 Pouro Rom 3:10
13 Madona 3:03 ~ Written By - Smith/Praeger
14 Soline 2:50
15 Charmaine 2:39
16 Tchoucar Valsarie 2:03
17 Fascination 2:54
18 Nette Presse Pas 3:13
19 Kleine Harmonika 2:36
20 Amoureuse 3:00
21 Ambiance Tzigane 2:51
22 Choti 2:30
23 Petite Fleur 3:42
24 Berusovie 2:12
25 Route Des Acacias 4:08
26 Valse Des Officiers 1:52
27 Caractere Slave 2:36



Cimbalom - Michel Villach [tracks: 5 - 27]
Double Bass - Ernst Pseffer [tracks: 5 - 27]
Guitar - Boulou Ferré [tracks: 5 - 27]
Guitar [Rhythm] - Jacques Montagne [tracks: 1 to 4]
Guitar [Solo] - Matelo Ferré
Guitar [rhythm] - Sarane Ferré [tracks: 1 to 4]

Tracks 1 to 4 rec. Paris 1960
Tracks 5 to 27 rec. Studio Sidney Bechet, Villetaneuse, 1978

Jean Matelot Ferret was born in 1918 in Rouen, France. The youngest of three brothers, he did not wait for adulthood to go to Paris, instead he ran away from home to follow his older brothers. He was at the time 13 years old and already skilled at the banjo and violin. The famed violinist Jean Guelesco – the Czar’s violinist – convinced him to give up the fiddle and take up the guitar. Soon he was playing every where in Paris, from the cabarets russes to the jazz clubs of Montparnasse – and of course the bals-musette. Matelot was a professional guitarist and was capable of playing in any environment. He is renowned today for his masterpiece double LP 'Tziganskaia', and the recording he made with Jo Privat , Manouche-Partie, but he made many other recordings in a busy career lasting over 50 years. This master guitarist knew virtually every style of music. Matelot is often called the master of the gypsy waltz – but slight evidence exists to document this fact. In fact his oeuvre is so wide-ranging that it is impossible to discuss it in this space. Matelot Ferret passed away in 1989. He was survived by his wife Jacqueline and three sons, Michel, Boulou, and Elios. Great guitarists in their own right, the latter two can be found playing in Paris and around the world.

from the liners:
Before the recordings by Matelo Ferret were issued on CD in 1988, one knew little about the gypsy guitarists from the 1925-1930 Parisian cabarets, caf’conc’, and dance halls, apart from those who played jazz. Some people were of course aware that the young Django Reinhardt – a six-string banjo virtuoso – played Monti’s Czardas brilliantly as well as the legendary gypsy Gusti Malha’s elaborated waltzes, such as La Valse des Niglos. Nevertheless, as few people in those days ventured into the Parisian zone, no one knew that in his youth Django had composed tunes that had made him famous in the popular world of the French capitol. No doubt this was the reason why these deeply inventive but forgotten waltzes – Chez Jacquet, Montagne Ste. Geneviève, and others – didn’t come to light until a small record with Matelo was issued in 1960, now representing the first four tracks on this CD. In the original liner notes Charles Delaunay remarked: 'Listening to these little masterpieces is enlightening about how much gracefulness, and what treasures, Django brought first to the musette orchestras, and later to jazz.' Furthermore, it is obvious that Django and his predecessor Gusti Malha’s approach to the instrument, their way of improvising accompaniment lines for accordionists, and of playing odd chromatic low notes, were a decisive factor in the elaboration of the famous Valses Gitanes.

Jean Pierre 'Matelo' Ferret was born in Rouen, France, on the first of December 1918, the youngest child of a Gitan gypsy family. Following in his brothers Baro and Sarane’s footsteps, he started playing the violin and banjo as a child in a dance hall. As musette was coming into fashion and Matelo’s fame as a talented musician grew in the Parisian musical world, he was soon asked to replace Gusti Malha at the side of the famous accordionist Émile Vacher at the Pigalle Abbaye de Thèléme. At the same time, he was working for Vétese Guérino’s orchestra at La Boîte à Matelots.

A short while later he turned to the guitar, and at the age of thirteen joined the well-known Rumanian gypsy violinist Ionel Bajac’s orchestra at the Casanova. There, thanks to the prodigious cymbalom player Nitza Codolban, Matelo came to understand the richness of the central European traditional forms of music were. The following year Matelo met Django and shortly after started integrating elements from Django’s complex style into his own. From that time on, Matelo was by the sides of the most outstanding gypsy violinists of the time: the “tsar’s violinist” Jean Gulesco, concert-performers like Valadarski and Zarate, later Pali-Gesztross, Gyula Kokas, Sava Neagu, Tata Mirando, and of course Yoska Nemeth. In little time Matelo became sought after because of his musical ability and his perfect knowledge of the repertoire. He would go from one Parisian spot to the other, always on the move like the true gypsy he was, from one Russian cabaret to another, playing at the Shéhérazade, the Tokay, the Monseigneur, the Dinarzade, the Tsarevitch, the Etoile de Moscou… all the historical places.

It is precisely that carefree, bygone tzigane atmosphere that this album by Matelo Ferret recalls: the sleepless nights in the dance halls, Russian spots, night clubs like the Montmartre Harlem or Jimmy’s Bar where crazy after-hours jam sessions took place. Here we find again the sound of Matelo’s guitar, which could play all musical styles and was at the sides of the best jazz musicians of that time – Michel Warlop, Eddie South, Benny Carter, André Ekyan, Alix Combelle, Hubert Rostaing, Gus Viseur, Tony Murena, & of course Stéphane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt. Here we can hear it playing with longing those tzigane melodies, Slavonic songs, and Viennese waltzes tinged with Czardas that the bohemian orchestras at the Café de Paris, Chez Mazim’s, and the Pavillon d’Armenonville performed so delightfully for their wealthy patrons. This “light music” takes another dimension under Matelo’s the, as it used to under the great Boldi and George Boulanger’s bows. Full of languor and zest, these deceptively simply melodies require an exacting technique and deep sensitivity from the soloist. Matelo doesn’t lack any of these qualities, and listening for instance to 'Tziganskaïa' in which he displays a brilliant and colorful mastership of his instrument, we are reminded that he was one of the few gypsy guitar players to develop his own personal style in the days Django was at his best. ~ Alain Antonietto

simultaneously sublime, nostalgic, earnest & playful recordings. been had this mess on repeat fer weeks now. 320 remerciements à solipse, la french conexion

Jo Privat ~ Manouche Partie 1960/66 [Nocturne, 1991]

01. Valse Des Niglos [G. Malha] 2,22
02. Les Yeux Noirs [Trad. arr. J. Privat] 2,56
03. Nuages [D. Reinhardt] 2,19
04. Songe d’automne [A. Joyce] 2,36
05. Les Deux Guitares [Trad. arr. C. Aznavour] 2,53
06. Minor Swing [D. Reinhardt, S. Grappelli] 2,15
07. Chez Jacquet [D. Reinhardt] 2,18
08. Tamboo [F. Cavez] 2,51
09. Crépuscule [D. Reinhardt] 2,39
10. Rêve Bohémien [J. Privat] 2,29
11. Rythmes Gitans [J. Privat] 2,44
12. Java Manouche [Privat] 2.02
13. Kalinka [Trad. arr. A. Popp] 2,36
14. La Zingara [J. Privat] 2,19



Accordion - Jo Privat
Bass - René Dubois
Clarinet - Jean Tordo
Drums - Baptiste 'Mac Kak' Reilhes [trax: 1 to 3, 5 to 8, 10, 12, 13]
Drums - René Motta [trax: 4, 9, 11, 14]
Guitar - Jacques Montagne [trax: 1 - 3, 5 - 8, 10, 12, 13]
Guitar - Jean 'Matelot' Ferret, Jo Privat Jr. [tracks: 4, 9, 11, 14]

Enregistré aux studios Pathé-Marconi, Boulogne,
le 3 novembre 1960 et le 16 décembre 1966
Tracks 1-3, 5-8, 10, 12, 13 rec. 3/11/60, originally released as 10" 33 r.p.m. album
named'Manouche Partie', subsequent editions titled 'Hommage à Django'
Trax 4, 9, 11, 14 rec. 16/12/66, originally released with other trax as 12" 33 rpm LP

'Manouche Party with accordeonist Jo Privat and Matelo Ferret is one of the best gypsy jazz and musette albums of all time.It’s near impossible to find this French CD in the USA, but Matelo’s daredevil solo on 'Dark Eyes' would make an airplane ticket to Paris to buy the disc worthwhile.' ~ Michael Dregni

totally out of print/rare as owl's teeth gypsy jazz majesty from the 60's, with full on french livret included. parlez-vous? 320 remerciements à huxley, l'uploader d'origine

Gus Viseur ~ Compositions 1934-1942 [Frémeaux & Associés]

01. Gus Viseur Et Son Ensemble - Jeannette 2:24
02. Gus Viseur Et Son Orchestre - Flambée Montalbanaise 2:36
03. Gus Viseur's Music - Andalousie 3:10
04. Gus Viseur Et Son Orchestre - Douce Joie 3:00
05. Gus Viseur Et Son Orchestre - Anomalie 2:55
06. Gus Viseur's Music - Automne 2:16
07. Orchestre Musette - Soir De Venise 2:47
08. Gus Viseur Et Son Ensemble - Soir De Dispute 2:22
09. Orchestre Musette "Swing Royal" - Phillipe's Stomp 2:38
10. Gus Viseur Et Son Orchestre - Souvenir De Bruxelles 2:42
11 Gus Viseur Et Son Orchestre - L'Incomprise 3:06
12.. Tony Murena Et Son Ensemble* - Swing Accordéon 2:17
13. Gus Viseur Et Son Orchestre - Swing Valse 2:27
14. Gus Viseur Et Son Orchestre - Matelotte 3:15
15. Gus Viseur Et Son Orchestre - Gracieusette 2:34
16. Gus Viseur Et Son Orchestre - Josette 2:49
17. Gus Viseur , L'Orchestre Victor , Boris Sarbeck - L'Imprévu 2:52
18. Les Frères Colombo Du Bal Tabarin Et Leur Orchestre - Jeannette 2:58



'Gus Viseur was a virtuoso in the musette genre, during the swing era in the 1930s. He is the only jazz accordionist who is a member of the famous Hot Club de France, conducted by Charles Delaunay. Viseur began his career playing in the streets of Paris & managed to get a great sound from a chromatic button accordion. It was clear that he was doing something innovative: He helped create the accordion-jazz style known as manouche. Meeting Django Reinhardt and performing with the legendary Quintet of the Hot Club of France was an important new chapter in his life. Later he even played bebop in the fifties. He was the first to draw a link between Musette and Jazz, but he never forgot Musette. That was his main voice. There is an unbelievable strength in his playing, that gives him the ability to improvise in all those different music genres. In addition to his numerous recordings he also performed in cabarets and nightclubs. He recorded his first record in 1937 and accompanied Édith Piaf in 1940.' 320 remerciements à espilos