Recorded in Paris in 1940. The Hot Club of France was a kind of jazz appreciation society based in Paris in the 1930s and Django Reinhardt-perhaps the greatest jazz guitarist of all time-and his quintet (featuring Stephane Grappelli on violin) swiftly became its main attraction. In an era when it was commonly believed that in order to play jazz you had to be African American and from somewhere like New Orleans, Reinhardt managed to single-handedly debunk this myth, and in the process become the first international European jazz star. Although Reinhardt played in the jazz idiom, he did not try to mimic his American counterparts, but developed his own distinct style of playing (on an instrument that was not even an accepted jazz solo instrument at the time and with two crippled fingers on his left hand)! His pre-war recordings for HMV and Swing became wildly popular, selling to audiences eager to hear what this new 'european jazz' was all about. These recordings (1936-1940) chronicle a time when Paris was the centre of the world-and the legendary night clubs of Montmarte, Pigalle and along the Champs- Élysées were filled with jazz bands-but with the onset of WWII, all this changed and gypsies like Django Reinhardt were systematically being rounded up and sent to the death camps. During this time Reinhardt found himself literally having to play and record in order to stay alive. As long as he was a star, he was safe. Amazingly, Reinhardt still managed to compose and record some of his best material during this dark era, and songs like "Oriental Shuffle", "Mystery Pacific", "Bricktop", "Minor Swing" and "Nuages" still represent some of his best work.