Stéphane Grappelli (26 January 1908 – 1 December 1997, born Stefano Grappelli) was a French jazz violinist. He is best known as a founder of the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands. He has been called "the grandfather of jazz violinists" and continued playing concerts around the world well into his eighties.

For the first three decades of his career, he was billed using a gallicised spelling of his last name, Grappelly, reverting to Grappelli in 1969. The latter, Italian spelling is now used almost universally when referring to the violinist, including reissues of his early work.

Stéphane Grappelli (26 January 1908 – 1 December 1997, born Stefano Grappelli) was a French jazz violinist. He is best known as a founder of the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands. He has been called "the grandfather of jazz violinists" and continued playing concerts around the world well into his eighties.

For the first three decades of his career, he was billed using a gallicised spelling of his last name, Grappelly, reverting to Grappelli in 1969. The latter, Italian spelling is now used almost universally when referring to the violinist, including reissues of his early work.

Grappelli was born at Hôpital Lariboisière in Paris, France, and christened with the name Stefano. His father, Italian marchese Ernesto Grappelli, was born in Alatri, Lazio, while his French mother, Anna Emilie Hanoque, was from St-Omer. Ernesto was a scholar who taught Italian, sold translations, and wrote articles for local journals. Grappelli's mother died when he was five, leaving his father to care for him. Although he was residing in France when World War I began, Ernesto was still an Italian citizen, and was consequently drafted into the Italian Army in 1914.

Having written about American dancer Isadora Duncan, who was living in Paris, Ernesto appealed to her to care for his son. Stéphane was enrolled in Duncan's dance school at the age of six, and he learned to love French Impressionist music. With the war approaching, Duncan fled the country; she turned over her château to be used as a military hospital. Ernesto subsequently entrusted his son to a Catholic orphanage. Grappelli said of this time: " I look back at it as an abominable memory ... The Place was supposed to be under the eye of the government, but the government looked elsewhere. We slept on the floor, and often were without food. There were many times when I had to fight for a crust of bread." ...

Source: Article "Stéphane Grappelli" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Stéphane Grappelli, né le 26 janvier 1908 à Paris et mort le 1er décembre 1997 dans la même ville, est un violoniste, pianiste, et jazzman italo-français. Il fait partie des plus grands violonistes de jazz du XXe siècle et créa le «Quintette du Hot Club de France» avec Django Reinhardt.

Stéphane Grappelli naît le 26 janvier 1908, à l'hôpital Lariboisière dans le 10e arrondissement de Paris, de père italien, Ernesto, né à Nettuno, et de mère française, Anna-Émilie Hanocque, née à Saint-Omer. Il est reconnu par ses parents en novembre 1911, un mois avant leur mariage in extremis, et sa mère meurt alors qu'il n'a que quatre ans. Vers l'âge de douze ans, il commence à jouer du violon dans les rues et les cours d'immeubles, pour rapporter un peu d'argent à la maison. Il débute dans la carrière professionnelle en 1923 comme violoniste et pianiste dans les cinémas, pour accompagner les films muets. En 1931 et 1932, Stéphane Grappelli joue dans l’orchestre du club la Croix du Sud, dirigé par André Ekyan, au côté de Django Reinhardt et Alix Combelle.

En 1934, Stéphane Grappelli et Django Reinhardt créent le Quintette du Hot Club de France avec le contrebassiste Louis Vola, ainsi que Joseph Reinhardt (le frère de Django) et Roger Chaput, tous deux à la guitare. Un violon, une contrebasse et trois guitares: le Quintette était né. Ce dernier aura toujours une existence «intermittente», malgré plusieurs tournées et de très nombreux enregistrements. Parallèlement, Stéphane travaille, durant les années 1920 et les années 1930, avec tous les musiciens du moment et fréquente de nombreux orchestres, plus souvent au piano qu'au violon. Il est notamment très présent d'abord comme pianiste, ensuite comme violoniste dans l'orchestre de Krikor Kelekian (dit Grégor), dont la formation, connue sous le nom de Grégor et ses Grégoriens, fait partie des meilleurs orchestres du moment, regroupant la fine fleur des musiciens de l'époque comme le jeune batteur Jerry Mengo. Il y retrouve notamment son ami le grand violoniste Michel Warlop, mais également Sylvio Schmidt, talentueux violoniste lui aussi, ou encore Stéphane Mougin, un des meilleurs pianistes de jazz dans cette riche "faune" musicale. ...

Source: Article "Stéphane Grappelli" de Wikipédia en français, soumis à la licence CC-BY-SA 3.0.