This blog may only be of interest to jazz guitar lovers and players. Be that as it may I'll try and do justice to the genius that was Django.

Django Reinhardt


Jean-Baptiste Reinhardt (Django) January 24, 1910 - 16 May, 1953 was born in Liberchies,  Pont-a-Celles, Belguim. This Belgian Gypsy who spent most of his youth in Gypsy encampments, was destined to become arguably the most influential European of the 20th century in the world of music and jazz specifically. I'm not personally a big jazz fan, some I like, most hard jazz I don't care for, but I can become almost entranced listening to him play. No other European had the kind of impact on jazz the 'Elegant Gypsy' did.

Near what is known as old Paris is a belt of fortifications, and it was near one of the gates (the Choisy) that Django's tribe set up camp when he was 8. The French Gypsies  also known as Manouches were a world unto themselves. Distrustful of modern science and technology, they were positively medieval in their beliefs and practices. He lived in what simply had to have been a world of contradictions. One foot in modern, cosmopolitan Paris, and the other in the centuries old life of the nomadic Gypsy. He never wore a suit or lived in a real house 'til the age of 20.

Though he was born into poverty he had almost an aristocratic persona. It's been said he had the soul of a nobleman, with an urbane bearing and attitude which can be heard in his music.

He was taller than most French Gypsies and had wide shoulders, and his figure gave the impression of controlled power.

Django (meaning 'I awake' in Romany) developed an interest in music at an early age. He got his first instrument when he was 12. It was a banjo/guitar given to him by a neighbour who had noticed the boy's interest in music. He very quickly learned to play. He would mimick the fingerings of musicians he watched. Before long he was blowing the adults away with his mastery of the instrument. Before he was 13 he had begun his musical career playing with a popular accordionist at a dance hall. He played with numerous bands and musicians and made his first recordings with accordionist Jean Vaissade in 1928. Django couldn't read or write so "Jiango Renard" was how his name appeared on the records.

On November 2nd, 1928, at the age of 18, after an evening of playing he returned home to the caravan he and his new wife lived in. His wife was trying to help make ends meet by making artificial flowers out of celluloid (flammable as hell) and the caravan was filled with the flowers and materials. The story goes that Django thought he heard a mouse amongst the flowers so he bent over with a candle to check it out. The wick fell of the candle into the flowers, and
Whoooosh!!!!  The caravan was engulfed in flame within seconds! The couple managed to escape the caravan with the help of some neigbours, but Django had first and second degree burns on his left hand, and on his right side from knee to waist. His wife's hair was burned as well, but she hadn't been burned with the same severity as had Django,

Doctors told him he'd never play guitar again, and they wanted to amputate his right leg. He refused them permission for the operation so they transferred him to a nursing home that supposedly had a reputation for excellent care. They must have been doing something right because they saved the leg the other guys wanted to lop off.

He was bedridden for 18 months. During the recovery period his brother, Joseph, gave him a guitar. Joseph, btw was no slouch on the guitar in his own right. Django was a determined man, and created an entirely new method of fingering. The 4th and 5th fingers on his left hand were permanently curled towards the palm because the tendons had shrunk from the heat of the flames. He found he was able to use them on the first two strings for chords and octaves. His solos were all played using the index and middle fingers only.Film clips of him playing show the unusual technique to be very graceful and precise.

He was influenced by the recordings of early jazz performers such as Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti, Louis Armstong and Duke Ellington. Jazz was a tailor made vehicle for him to use his enormous improvisational talents. He almost never played a solo the same way twice, and his recordings prove this to be true. As well as being a superb improvisor he was also a composer who created numerous pieces with beautifully sophisticated, subtle and sometimes haunting melodies. As referred to earlier, he could not read or write, which put him at the mercy of sharks that would sometimes write his stuff down on paper and take it for themselves.

One of the most important years of his life was 1934 because it was the year The Quintet of the Hot Club of France was created. The group was HOT.  Fate played a benevolent part in that it was from a chance meeting between Django and a violin player named Stephane Grappelli that was the genesis of the quintet. A 14 member band, among whom were Django, Stephane, Roger Chaput, Louis Vola and Django.s brother Joseph  was commissioned to play at the Hotel Cambridge at teatime. During imtermissions Django woud find a quiet corner and sit down and play his guitar. One day Stephane joined him, and after playing together for a bit they decided they liked what they were hearing. They played more and more and Roger Chaput (guitar), Louis Vola (bass) and Joseph (guitar) began joining in. They began recording with a small record company called Ultraphone. Their first records Dinah, Tiger Rag, Oh Lady Be Good, and I Saw Stars caused a sensation, and the Quintet recorded hundreds more records which gained them a following on both sides of the Atlantic. It was one of the few well-known jazz groups that was composed entirely of stringed instruments. They were able to get a percussive sound with their guitars.

A short word about Stephane Grappelli. He was a man , much like Les Paul in that he didn't believe just because the calendar and mirror told him he was getting older, that there was any reason to slow down or stop doing what he loved. I used to have a disc before my relationship break-up, of a concert he recorded at the age of 94 and he sounded as good as he ever did.

The quintet was playing in England in 1939 when the 'Dogs of War' were released and WW II began. Stephane stayed in England while Django returned to France leaving his wife in England. He played and recorded throughout the war. He survived WW II unscathed which was rather remarkable since hundreds of thousands of Gypsies perished in the Nazi death camps. It was even more remarkable when you consider the Nazis didn't permit the playing or recording of jazz. What was apparently at play was a Luftwaffe officer Dietrich Schulz-Kohn, nicknamed "Doktor Jazz", who deeply admired Django's music and seemingly had enough clout that he was able to keep the Gestapo and SS off of Django's case.


After the war he rejoined Stephane in England. Django was to eventually played with a number of American Jazz legends such as Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, Rex Stewart and did a jam session and radio performance with Louis Armtrong. Later on in his career he gigged with Dizzy Gillespie in France.

In 1946 he toured as a guest soloist with Duke Ellington's band. Although Django took great pride in this, Ellington never really made any effort to integrate Django into the band, sticking him at the end of the shows to play a few solos virtually on his own, and no arrangements were written for him which Ellington could easily have done if he had chosen to. Also he wasn't allowed to play the guitar he usually played (a Selmer Modele Jazz, a guitar he made famous), but instead had to play a new amplified model. Going "electric" wasn't much appreciated by his fans or him. It's been said he returned to France with broken dreams, but continued to record and play.

 A quick few words about Selmer Modele Jazz guitars. They were the guitars he and the other members of the Hot Club of France used exclusively. They were the first commercially available guitars with a cutaway, had steel reinforced necks, and were/are considered by many to be the finest guitars ever produced.

Django was one of the first people in France to appreciated the music of Charlie Parker and Doizzy Gillespie. When he first arrived in New York he sought them out, but unfortunately both of them were on tours of their own.

in 1948 he gathered together a few Italian jazz players and recorded a record that was one of his most acclaimed. It was entitled Djangology and once again featured Stephane Grappelli on violin.

Django had always found it difficult adjusting to modern life and upon returning to France he returned to the Gypsy life. He would show up at concerts without a guitar, or he'd just wander off to a park or a beach. He was well known by his band, fans, and managers to be unpredictable. Sometimes he would just skip sold out concerts entirely to "smell the dew". He still continued to record though and is considered to be one of the most advanced guitarists ever to play the instrument. Like Les Paul, he had a style that was unmistakably his alone.

In 1951 he retired to Samois-sur-Seine, France, near Fontainebleau, living there for two or three years until when returning home on May 16, 1953, he collapsed from a brain hemorrhage just outside of his house. It was a full day before a doctor showed up and he was pronounced dead at the hospital in Fontainebleau.

The following reads like a list of who's who in the genre of guitar players. Every one of them has expressed admiration for Reinhardt and referred to him as a major influence on them:

Jimmy McCulloch, Julian Bream, Chet Atkins who placed Reinhardt #1 on a list of the 10 most influential guitarists of the 20th century (placing himself at #5), Carlos Santana, B.
B.B. King, Tommy Emmanuel, Pierre Bensusan, Jerry Garcia, Trey Anastasio, Tony Iommi, Jimi Hendrix, Carl Barat, Synester Gates, Shawn Lane, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Derek Trucks, Mark Knopfler, Les Paul, Joe Pass, Peter Frampton, Denny Laine, Jeff Beck, Jon Larsen, Steve Howe, Charlie Christian, Frank Vignola, Barney Kessel, George Benson, Wes Montgomery, Martin Taylor, Tchavolo Schmitt, Willie Nelson, Jose Feliciano, Stochelo Rosenberg, Bireli Lagrene, John Jorgenson, Michael Angelo Batio, Richard Thompson, Robert Fripp and Jeff Martin. British guitarist Diz Disley plays in a style based on Reinhardt's and has collaborated with Stephane Grappelli several times.
In 2009 Jose Feliciano composed an album entitled Djangoisms.

Musicians have invoked his name in their own work and/or personal life, naming sons after him for instance. Jimi Hendrix named one of his bands the Band of Gypsys. A jazz trio in Quebec calls itself The Lost Fingers, and play music strongly influenced by his style.

He has been the subject of songs, his music has been heard in numerous movies, and
Woody Allen produced a spoof called Sweet and Lowdown based on a fictional American guitar player named Emmet Ray who was obssesed with Django and his music.

There are very few musicians that have left behind a legacy such as Django Reinhardt's



Ciao



Jazz attracted me because in it I found a formal perfection and instrumental precision that I admire in classical music, but which popular music doesn't have.

Django Reinhardt