Dregni, Michael 1961–

PERSONAL: Born 1961.

ADDRESSES: Office—Voyageur Press, Inc., 123 N. 2nd St., Stillwater, MN 55082. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Voyageur Press, Inc., Stillwater, MN, editorial director. Musician; writer.

AWARDS, HONORS: Best Books citation, San Francisco Chronicle, 2004, for Django: The Life and Music of a Gypsy Legend.

WRITINGS:

Inside Ferrari, Motorbooks International (Osceola, WI), 1990.

(With Eric Dregni) Illustrated Motorscooter Buyer's Guide, Motorbooks International (Osceola, WI), 1993.

Stock Car Racing, Capstone Press (Minneapolis, MN), 1994.

Motorcycle Racing, Capstone Press (Minneapolis, MN), 1994.

The Indianapolis 500, Capstone Press (Minneapolis, MN), 1994.

(With Eric Dregni) Scooters!, Motorbooks International (Osceola, WI), 1995.

(Author of text) Harley-Davidson Collectibles, Time Square Books (Stillwater, MN), 1998.

The Spirit of the Motorcycle: The Legends, the Riders, and the Beauty of the Beast, photographs by John Dean, Voyageur Press (Stillwater, MN), 2000.

Django: The Life and Music of a Gypsy Legend, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2004.

Motorcycle Legends: The Bikes, the Riders, the Stories, photographs by John Dean, Voyageur Press (Stillwater, MN), 2004.

EDITOR

(With Jeff Fair and Eric Hanson) Loons: Song of the Wild, Voyageur Press (Stillwater, MN), 1996.

(With Todd R. Berger) Majestic Whitetails, Voyageur Press (Stillwater, MN), 1997.

This Old Tractor: A Treasury of Vintage Tractors and Family Farm Memories, Voyageur Press (Stillwater, MN), 1998.

Minnesota Days: Our Heritage in Stories, Art, and Photos, Voyageur Press (Stillwater, MN), 1999.

This Old Farm: A Treasury of Family Farm Memories, Voyageur Press (Stillwater, MN), 1999.

One Hundred and One Uses for an Old Farm Tractor, Voyageur Press (Stillwater, MN), 2000.

Our Florida: Heritage of the Sunshine State in Stories and Photos, Voyageur Press (Stillwater, MN), 2000.

One Hundred Years of Vintage Farm Tractors: A Century of Tractor Tales and Heartwarming Family Farm Memories, illustrated by Bob Feller, Voyageur Press (Stillwater, MN), 2000.

This Old Harley: The Ultimate Tribute to the World's Greatest Motorcycle, Voyageur Press (Stillwater, MN), 2000.

This Old Barn: A Treasury of Family Farm Memories, photographs by Eric Sloane, Voyageur Press (Stillwater, MN), 2002.

This Old John Deere: A Treasury of Vintage Tractors and Family Farm Memories, photographs by Don Macmillan, Voyageur Press (Stillwater, MN), 2002.

(With Margaret Aldrich) This Old Guitar: Making Music and Memories from Country to Jazz, Blues, to Rock, photographs by Charles Shaar Murray, Voyageur Press (Stillwater, MN), 2003.

Mustang Legends: The Power, the Performance, the Passion, photographs and illustrated by Peter Egan, Voyageur Press (Stillwater, MN), 2004.

The All-American Hot Rod: The Cars, the Legends, the Passion, Voyageur Press (Stillwater, MN), 2004.

Knitticisms—and Other Purls of Wisdom, Voyageur Press (Stillwater, MN), 2005.

Contributor to Vintage Guitar magazine.

SIDELIGHTS: Michael Dregni is the editorial director of Voyageur Press, a Minnesota-based publisher specializing in books about nature, the joys of farm life, rural heritage, vintage products, travel, and history. While editing the works of others through Voyageur, Dregni has also written a number of books of his own. One of his best known is Django: The Life and Music of a Gypsy Legend. In this work Dregni calls upon his own background as a musician to add insightful commentary to a biography of Django Reinhardt, Europe's most famous Gypsy musician of the twentieth century.

During the 1930s and 1940s, Reinhardt pioneered a distinctive style of jazz guitar in the clubs of Paris and elsewhere in France. Even World War II did not deter him, as his music remained popular with Nazi occupiers and French citizens alike. After the war he toured America with Duke Ellington, but he soon returned to France, where he died in 1953 at the age of forty-three. What was singular about Reinhardt—beyond his innovative musicianship—was the fact that he played guitar with a severely burned left hand. His compensations for his injury helped to craft a unique style that has been imitated since by blues, jazz, and rock musicians.

Django drew warm commentary from most critics. Many noted that Dregni's comprehensive biography—the first on Reinhardt in more than forty years—fills gaps in the historical record of this footloose and eccentric genius. A Publishers Weekly critic styled the book a "carefully researched biography, rich with details …[and] sensitive appraisals of Django's musicianship." In Booklist, Ray Olson styled the title "a splendid history of early European, especially French, jazz." Django was named one of the best books of 2004 by the San Francisco Chronicle. New York Times Book Review contributor Gene Santoro praised the work as well, concluding: "Dregni's biography does its complex subject justice…. The panoramic results present Django Reinhardt as he has never been seen." According to David French in the Los Angeles Times Book Review, Dregni's grasp of musicianship provides "the musical insight and analysis essential to good jazz biography." The critic added: "Dregni's is in many ways the book jazz enthusiasts have been waiting for."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 15, 2004, Ray Olson, review of Django: The Life and Music of a Gypsy Legend, p. 540.

Down Beat, April, 2005, Mitch Myers, review of Django, p. 82.

Library Journal, September 15, 2004, Eric C. Shoaf, review of Django, p. 59.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, March 13, 2005, David French, "Riffing on the Remarkable Django Reinhardt," p. 8.

New Yorker, December 6, 2004, Adam Gopnik, review of Django, p. 102.

New York Times Book Review, November 28, 2004, Gene Santoro, "Guitar Hero," p. 25.

People, June 28, 1999, Amy Waldman, review of This Old Farm: A Treasury of Family Farm Memories, p. 48.

Publishers Weekly, September 6, 2004, review of Django, p. 57.