Hiding in Plain Sight

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I was just listening to a piece of Gypsy Jazz on YouTube: 'Ballade Pour Django' by the Joscho Stephan Trio - which Pinpoint! [obscure reference to a very, very old TV thing] - brought to mind an old 78rpm record that we used to have at home when I was growing up. It was a White Label Spitfire Fund recording from WWII, intended as a fundraiser for the production of Supermarine Spitfires for the war effort. Our copy is lost in time, which I deeply regret, and I only hope it ended up in a good home: I think Dad gave it to a mate of his forty or fifty years ago. The record, as you can see from the image of its label above, is credited to one Pinchin Johnson's Witley Court Music Box; but to any listener at the time or since will know, just by listening to the thing, was in reality performed by no less than Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli incognito, with probably The Andrews Sisters on vocals. BTW, according to Wikipedia, the song is derived from a Ukrainian folk song, as have so many other notable songs to enter the English-speaking musical orbit over the decades...



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