Who the Heck is Django Reinhardt ?

 

 

Django Reinhardt was a French Gypsy who "invented" a unique style of jazz
that has become known as "Gypsy Swing".

His name is pronounced ."JANG-go .RINE-heart".

Born in poverty in a gypsy wagon in Belgium in 1910, he died suddenly of a
cerebral hemmorage in 1953, in the prime of his life.

He is,  possibly,  the most famous guitarist who has ever lived.

Gypsy Swing music is a guitarists dream come true - there are usually
three guitars in a Gypsy Swing band and there is a
strong emphasis on difficult technique.

Django Reinhardt led a band in the 1930's called the
"Quintet of the Hot Club of France"
.

His brother and his cousin played rhythm guitars and he was the
third guitarist, the star soloist.  The violinist Stephane Grapelli
was also
in the band, making the violin a uniquely
essential element in Gypsy Swing music.

Django Reinhardt is famous as a guitarist because of his
unbelievable technique.

He played faster than anyone had before, and he did it
in a way that was very musical.

The MOST amazing thing about his technique is that his left
hand was severely burned when he was 18 and he only had
the full use of two fingers, the index and middle. He could
also use his thumb and the stumps of his paralyzed
ring finger and pinky.

His blazing technique would have been unbelievable for a
person with normal hands but Django Reinhardt
did it with a serious injury to his left hand.


To this day, we still can't get over it.



Links to other Django Reinhardt websites:

Wikipedia .|. Jazz Bio

 

 

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