page_title: Diz Disley
section_title: Back to jazz with Stephane Grappelli
hierarchical_section_title: Diz Disley / Biography / Back to jazz with Stephane Grappelli
caption_attribution_description: English: Guitarist Diz Disley (right of centre) jams with Chris Newman's group on the second stage at the 1977 Cambridge Folk Festival (Tony Rees photograph). L-R: Mike Evans, violin; Mike Ring, guitar; Chris Newman, guitar; Diz Disley, guitar; Henry Davies, double bass.
context_page_description: William Charles "Diz" Disley was an Anglo-Canadian jazz guitarist and banjoist. He is best known for his acoustic jazz guitar playing, strongly influenced by Django Reinhardt, for his contributions to the UK trad jazz, skiffle and folk scenes as a performer and humorist, and for his collaborations with the violinist Stéphane Grappelli.
context_section_description: In 1973 he was influential in persuading Quintette du Hot Club de France violinist Stéphane Grappelli to return to public performances using an all-strings acoustic line-up, recreating the spirit of the Quintette for a new generation of listeners. Before this, Grappelli had spent a number of years playing "cocktail jazz" in a Paris hotel. After a couple of "warm up" gigs in small folk clubs, they played together to an unexpectedly warm reception at the 1973 Cambridge Folk Festival with Denny Wright on second acoustic guitar. This began a collaboration between Grappelli and the Diz Disley Trio, sometimes billed The Hot Club of London, with tours of Australia, Europe, and the United State. Karl Dallas reported Disley as having "single-handedly created a revival of interest in the music of Stephane Grappelli, which has taken him to Carnegie Hall, Australia, and New Zealand" (the latter in September 1974). "...the night he closed at the Palladium, he went to The Troubadour where he was booked later that night to perform his folk club act of idiocy and mayhem, keeping up the tradition he has built up over the past 20 years for delivering a shrewd mixture of musical brilliance and vocal insanity." There were a few changes in line-up with Ike Isaacs, Louis Stewart, and John Etheridge alternating as second guitarist. The Disley Trio accompanied Grappelli for another five years until Disley was forced to take a break in 1979 after breaking his wrist when he was  knocked down by a motorcycle in London. His replacement was a young Martin Taylor, who toured with Grappelli for ten years. During that period, Disley continued to play folk clubs and festivals as a solo performer and also mentored a young Chris Newman, who would establish his own name in the swing jazz, guitar flatpicking and celtic folk guitar fields.
  In 1978 Grappelli, Disley, and others were invited by David Grisman to contribute the score to the film King of the Gypsies. Grappelli and Disley had walk-on parts as gypsy musicians and were suitably attired for the occasion, but the soundtrack to the movie was never released.
  Disley was back with Grappelli in 1981–2 with a visit to the U.S. which resulted in parts of two performances captured on film, later released as Stéphane Grappelli - Live in San Francisco although the two musicians parted ways soon after, this time for good. For the second concert performance (filmed at the Great American Music Hall), Grappelli and the Trio were joined for an encore by David Grisman, Darol Anger, Mike Marshall, and Rob Wasserman for a performance of "Sweet Georgia Brown".
caption: Disley (right of centre) jams onstage with the Chris Newman group at the 1977 Cambridge Folk Festival
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