I've been rediscovering the incredible Django Reinhardt, which is how I just learned that "Jessica" was Dickey's tribute to the legendary guitarist.Â
Very briefly, he was so good on guitar as a teenager that someone(s) from England was trying to locate him to further his career. But around this time he was burned so badly in a fire that his doctor(s) wanted to amputate his right leg, and told him he'd never play guitar because his left ring and little finger were crippled beyond repair. He had so much drive and passion that he quickly surpassed himself, and pretty much every guitarist after.Â
FFI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_(instrumental)
FFI#2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Django_Reinhardt
Django made 900+ recordings in his short career, often performing the same song multiple times, with each version being unique. You can find a lot of his audio on YouTube, as well as a few of the rare known videos of him in action. One of the best is
. Watch him at about 0:42.
I'm pretty sure this is a silent clip with the appropriate tune added.Â
Track him down!
Billastro
I first head about Django from an interview with Dickey, if I recall correctly. Have been a fan for many years.
In the Django vein, I highly recommend checking out Stephane Wrembel. Lots of great stuff on YouTube and a few excellent shows posted on the live music archive.
I also heard Dickey say in an interview that he was writing a tribute to Django that could be played with just two fingers. He didn't have a title yet but saw his daughter Jessica crawling around on the floor, and there you go. I play more piano than guitar but would have never thought that you could play Jessica on guitar with just two fingers, lol! Perhaps it morphed after he called it Jessica. I'd be interested to hear from other guitar players on the two finger thing.Â
Ha!! what a coincident!! I have had him dialed in on YouTube music the last 4hours. Great no doubt.
If you ever get a chance, check out the movie "Sweet and Low Down" with Sean Penn. He plays the 2nd greatest jazz guitar player next to Django.Â
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
@kcjimmy I saw that interview. Dickey wanted to pay tribute to Django and come up with a melody and pattern so you could play it with two fingers.Â
Dickey said his wife came in to pick up all the empty beer cans and cigarette butts that were on the floor in his writing room and he asked his wife to leave it alone. Dickey was becoming inspired watching his daughter Jessica crawl and bounce around among all that on the floor in her innocence and captured the melody line for his song.Â
And it's a beautiful and unique melody line. Brilliant and classic.Â
Duane Allman was the founder and the inspiration and spark for the band but Dickey Betts is almost as important as Duane. Other than Duane, the other guitar players in the band don't come close to being as important as Dickey Betts for the Allman Brothers Band.Warren and Derek knew it too. Both said it was too bad things were such that Dickey wasn't in the band and Dickey's sound and style was such a big part of the band's sound Without Dickey, the ABB wouldn't have been the great band it became. It was so disappointing and tragic in a way that Butch Trucks belittled and trashed Dickey and tried to eliminate Dickey's key role in the band. We all knew it was just jealous BS. Perhaps Dickey's booze problem was a big contributor to what happened but it was handled so badly.Â
Here is a nice tribute to Jessica.Â
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@kcjimmy I saw that interview. Dickey wanted to pay tribute to Django and come up with a melody and pattern so you could play it with two fingers.Â
Dickey said his wife came in to pick up all the empty beer cans and cigarette butts that were on the floor in his writing room and he asked his wife to leave it alone. Dickey was becoming inspired watching his daughter Jessica crawl and bounce around among all that on the floor in her innocence and captured the melody line for his song.Â
And it's a beautiful and unique melody line. Brilliant and classic.Â
Duane Allman was the founder and the inspiration and spark for the band but Dickey Betts is almost as important as Duane. Other than Duane, the other guitar players in the band don't come close to being as important as Dickey Betts for the Allman Brothers Band.Warren and Derek knew it too. Both said it was too bad things were such that Dickey wasn't in the band and Dickey's sound and style was such a big part of the band's sound Without Dickey, the ABB wouldn't have been the great band it became. It was so disappointing and tragic in a way that Butch Trucks belittled and trashed Dickey and tried to eliminate Dickey's key role in the band. We all knew it was just jealous BS. Perhaps Dickey's booze problem was a big contributor to what happened but it was handled so badly.Â
Here is a nice tribute to Jessica.Â
Â
Hey robertdee -
I know the guy you posted the vid playing Jessica. Very good lead & slide player. He does a lot of solo gigs as well as band gigs. One band is an ABB Tribute Band. You've mentioned Roanoke, Va before, and they'll be playing there if you still live down that way.
https://www.skydogtribute.com/
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@martind28 Oh thank you. I use to go back and forth from SW VA and New York but been down here since Covid. I can get to Roanoke or Floyd easily. Gov't Mule played in Floyd and so did Gregg except Gregg had to cancel last time due to health reasons. Unfortunately Gregg passed on not long afterwards.Â
I'll check him out. He has two of my favorite guitars on this. Les Paul and SG.Â
To me the BEST live Jessica performances have Chuck Leavell and Dickey Betts on them. Not only is it original and authentic it is simply played better than other lineup configurations in the ABB.Â
Great performance of a great song. I'd like to see one where Dickey's holding to his vision of using only two fretting fingers! 😉Â
Billastro
Yes, he definitely cheated on the two finger thing. That was always my question. I gathered he abandoned the two finger rule when he realized what a monster song he was composing but I never knew that for certain.
