My L’Esprit Manouche book has finally arrived from France. I can’t speak a lick of French, but I intend to learn. At the moment I can pick out about 50% of the meaning in a paragraph, and I guess thats barely enough to pick through and learn a little.
The book is amazing. I have spend the last 6 months playing around with the Robin Nolan books, and this book seems to be the perfect compliment. Where the Robin Nolan book teaches rhythm mostly, and basic heads and melodies of gypsy jazz standards, the Romane book picks up from there and finally explains in detail, the method of true improvisation.
Without this book, learning to play this music could be futile, unless you are truly talented. I’m looking forward to spending time with this book, learning some french, and a few new songs written by Romane.

For a beginner, the book I recommend is “Swing Guitar Essentials (Acoustic Guitar Magazine’s Private Lessons) by String Letter Publishing”. It’s perfect because it has a play along rhythm track to Minor Swing and a Django style solo arrangement in tablature.
The best thing about this book is that it teaches you to break down the solo into chucks that represent the chord changes. It helps the beginner visualize the arpeggio as it “lays on top” of the progression. The rhythm track also helps you to listen to the music as you play, instead of just memorizing it. It does exactly what all of my Django pals say is most important. It helps you to recognize some of Djangos most recognizable and important scales/patterns and helps you understand how you can break them apart so that you might be capable of deciphering solos on your own. Its important for a beginner to see how the solo and the rhythm track lay on top of each other like a LEGO.
Like i said, for a beginner its perfect, if you don’t yet know what your doing. For an advanced player, they might think its useless. Advanced players may differ because they realize that the only real way to learn a solo is from endless hours of experimentation.