Ok, so who is Django Reinhardt?
Jean ‘Django’ Reindardt was a Belgian, born in 1910 into a family steeped in French gypsy culture. Like most stringed instrument players of his time, he started out playing the violin and moved on to the banjo. Prior to the invention of amplification, guitars were not widely used in band settings since their sound didn’t project well. Banjos were primarily used. Django’s earliest recordings were made using a banjo in fact. His musical influence came from other gypsy musicians who played the cultural music that he grew up with.
At age 18, Django knocked over a candle while preparing to go to bed, in the caravan he shared with his new wife. The candle ignited a collection of highly flammable celluloid material which his wife used in her creation of imitation flowers, which she sold to supplement the family’s income. Django was pulled from the fire by neighbors, but not before being badly injured, suffering burns over half his body. His right leg was paralyzed and the third and fourth fingers of his left hand were badly burned. If you look closely at the photo, you may notice the scarring on his left hand. Django refused surgery and was walking eventually with the aid of a cane. Although it was believed that Django would never play the guitar again, with practice he continued to play solos with just the remaining two fingers, using his remaining two paralyzed fingers for chords.
Moving into the early ‘30’s Django now played guitar exclusively. He became interested in jazz, and was particularly taken with Louis Armstrong, and the music he played. During this time Reinhardt met a young French violinist named Stéphane Grappelli. (It’s worthwhile to find youtube videos of Grappelli and his partner on several albums, Jean Luc Ponty. There’s also some great video of Grappelli playing with McCoy Tyner.) In 1934, along with Grappelli, Django formed the ‘Quintette du Hot Club de France’ which remained active until around 1948. The Hot Club of France Quintet was a hot group in Europe at the time, with its ‘gypsy jazz’ sound and style. When World War II broke out, the Quintet was on tour in the UK. Django, who spoke little or no English fled immediately returning to France. Grapelli remained in the UK and Reinhardt reformed the quintet in various incarnations for the next few years.
Reinhardt rejoined Grappelli in the UK after the war. In the fall of 1946 he went on to tour the US and even appeared as a special guest of Duke Ellington’s. At the end of the Ellington tour, he even played a couple of dates at Carnegie Hall. Django went on to record with American notable jazzers as Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins and Louis Armstrong.
Django retired in 1951 in France although he continued to play small Paris jazz clubs. While walking home from a train station after a Paris club gig in 1953, Django collapsed and died of a brain hemorrhage. He was 43.
