Born: January 23, 1910 | Died: May 16, 1953 Primary Instrument: Guitar
The man who became the 1st European jazz giant was born Jean Baptiste Reinhardt on January 24 1910 in a Gypsy encampment at Liberchies Belgium. His father was a traveling entertainer so he lived with his mother and her tribe. His early childhood was spent in and around Liberchies. At age 8 he moved with his mother and her clan to France and settled in a camp outside the gates of old Paris. He first started playing music on an old banjo/guitar at age 12 and soon started playing in cafes and dance halls in Paris accompanying and accordionist. He made his first recordings under the name of Jiango Reinhardt when he was in his late teens.
On November 2nd, 1928 a fire destroyed the caravan that Django Reinhardt shared with his wife together with all their belongings and severely burnt his left hand and his right leg. Despite initial hesitation to seek medical attention on his part and talk of amputating the leg by the first physician he saw, proper care received in a nursing home helped save his leg but permanently scarred his left hand.
During the 18 months spent convalescing he created a new technique in playing the guitar that made up for the extremely limited use he had of his 4th and 5th fingers. In 1934 Django and other musicians including Stéphane Grappelli, whom Django had met during an intermission when both were playing at a local hotel, Louis Vola, Roger Chaput and Django's brother Joseph formed the Quintette du Hot Club de France. They recorded their first jazz sides under that name and these early 78s propelled them into stardom. They created the concept of lead guitar backed by a rhythm guitar and they also used their string instruments to create percussion like sounds since they lacked any percussionists or drummers in their group. After this initial success they continued to record and tour Europe. They started recording material composed by Django himself and American standards. Django did not know how to read and write music and only later in life taught himself how to read and write French. They also played and recorded with expatriate and visiting American musicians such as Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, Rex Stewart and Louis Armstrong.
When World War II broke the Quintet was touring England. Django and other returned to Paris but Grappelli stayed in England thus ending the first incarnation of the Quintette du Hot Club de France. Clarinetist Hubert Rostaing was hired to replace Grappelli. Django somehow survived the dark years of Nazi rule when many of his people perished in concentration camps. Jazz was banned under Hitler.
Django was only allowed to play his music because of the aid of a Luftwaffe official who loved jazz and admired his skill. After the war he rejoined Grappelli and they continued to tour even visiting the US and playing in 1946 with Duke Ellington. He stayed in New York for a while but in 1948 returned to France and played mostly electric guitar except on his later days masterpiece Djangologie which he recorded together with Grappelli and a trio of Italian musicians.
In 1951 he retired to to Samois sur Seine, near Fontainebleau France. He lived there until May 16, 1953, when, collapsed outside his house and was declared dead from a brain hemorrhage on arrival at the hospital in Fontainebleau.
Rare Django
Disques Swing
1928-1938
First Recordings
Prestige
1934-1935
Nuages
ASV/Living Era
1934-1941
Django Reinhardt 1934-1937
EPM
1934-1937
Swing from Paris
ASV/Living Era
1935-1939
Djangologie/USA
Disques Swing
1935-1938
Swingin' with Django [Happy Days]
Pro Arte
1935-1940
Djangology [Capitol]
EMI
1936-1948
Nuages Volume 2
ASV/Living Era
1936-1940
Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grappelli: The Quintet of the Hot Club of France
Pearl Flapper
1936-1937
Django's Music
Hep
1940-1943
Swing Guitar
Jass
1945-1947
The Quintette of the Hot Club of France [GNP]
GNP
1947-1949
Brussels and Paris
DRG
1947-1953
Pêche à la Mouche
Verve
1947-1953
With His American Friends
DRG
1935-1940
The Classic Early Recordings in Chronological Order
JSP
1934-1939
The Complete Django Reinhardt & Quintet of the Hot Club of France Swing/HMV Sessions
Mosaic
1936-1948
Djangology [Bluebird]
Bluebird
1949
Retrospective 1934-53
Saga
1934-1953
In Solitaire: Complete Recordings for Solo Guitar
Definitive
1937-1950
Two Is Company: Complete Studio Duets
Definitive
1937-1942
Djangology [Living Era]
AJS/Living Era
1934-1946
Djangologie
EMI
1928-1949
Keep Cool: Guitar Solos 1950-53
FiveFour
1950-1953
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