Before there was John Mayer, Eric Clapton, Chet Akins, or Freddie King, there was “Django” Reinhardt; creator of a style of Jazz guitar now referred to as “Gypsy Jazz.”
After establishing an extraordinary following in Paris, France, in the autumn of 1946, Reinhardt made his first tour of the US, debuting at Cleveland Music Hall as special guest soloist for the famous Jazz pianist/band leader, Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
Sharing the stage with many popular musicians and composers of the time–including trumpeter Maury Deutsch–the US tour concluded with two nights at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, where Reinhardt received unprecedented ovation; taking six curtain calls the first night.
Following the tour, Reinhardt was invited to perform at the Greenwich Village landmark, Café Society Uptown, where he played four shows a day for a week, backed by the house band; his performances drawing huge crowds to his unique brand of Jazz guitar and fingering technique.
As mesmerized patrons watched and listened to Reinhardt play the guitar, few knew that his unique technique had developed due to a serious injury suffereed when he was 17; a fire that had rendered two fingers on Reinhardt’s left hand useless.
But, Reinhardt could do more with two fingers than other guitarists could do with four.
Early Life
Jean“Django” Reinhardt was born in a covered wagon on January 23, 1910, in Liberchies, Pont-à-Celles, Belgium, to French father, Jean Eugene Weiss, an artist/musician, and Laurence “Négros” Reinhardt, a dancer; part of a caravan of nomadic Sinti Gypsies. (Weiss went by the name “Jean-Baptiste Reinhardt” to avoid conscription into the French Army.) Some members of the Reinhardt clan made wicker furniture; others were musicians and entertainers.
Reinhardt never attended school (and remained largely illiterate), spending his childhood traveling with his parents–first throughout France (staying in Romani Gypsy encampments near Paris), then Italy and Algeria. Reinhardt grew up like many Romani boys; a free spirit who roamed the streets, liked films at the cinema, stole chickens, hung in billiard rooms, and lived in a world rich with music.
Attracted to musical instruments from an early age, Reinhardt began playing the violin as a small boy—switching to a banjo-guitar he received as a gift at age 12. His father reportedly played music in a family band comprised of himself and seven brothers; a photograph showing this band–including his father on piano—is said to exist.
Teaching himself to play, Reinhardt copied the fingering patterns of musicians he saw perform in his travels, including local virtuosi of the day, Gypsy guitarists Jean “Poulette” Castro and Auguste “Gusti” Malha. Within three years, Reinhardt had the skills to make a living street performing; later playing cabarets, “musette” [French baroque dance music] balls, and social gatherings.
Marriage and the Fateful Fire
At age 17, Reinhardt married Florine “Bella” Mayer, a girl from the same Romani settlement; a binding marriage according to Romani custom, but not legal under French law. Per Romani custom, the couple shared a wagon that was part of a Gypsy caravan.
Continuing to pursue a career in music, the following year Reinhardt was given the opportunity to make his first recording, accompanying French accordionist Jean Vaissade on the guitar-banjo. Upon hearing Reinhardt play, British bandleader and impresario Jack Hylton was so impressed by Reinhardt’s virtuosity that he offered him a contract to tour London.
But that was an offer Reinhardt’s fate would prevent.
On the night of November 2, 1928, while Reinhardt was on his way to bed, passing through the wagon he shared with his wife, he accidentally knocked over a candle; which ignited the extremely flammable celluloid his wife used to craft artificial flowers. Within seconds, the wagon was engulfed in flames.
Although the couple managed to escape alive, Reinhardt suffered extensive burns over half his body; and more crucial to his music, the fourth and fifth fingers (ring and little fingers) of Reinhardt’s left hand received fourth-degree burns.
During his 18-month hospital stay, doctors recommended amputation of his badly damaged right leg, but Reinhardt refused (and was eventually able to walk with the use of a cane). They also told him to prepare himself to never play the guitar again; but refusing to be defeated, Reinhardt used his months of convalescence to train the index and middle fingers of his left hand to be the dominant fingers; the two injured fingers used for chording only. As a result, Reinhardt developed a new playing technique using only his two good fingers (the index and sometimes thumb for solos).
Within a year of the fire, Mayer gave birth to their son, Henri Reinhardt. Soon after, the couple separated.
(Henri would eventually take the middle and surname of his mother’s second husband, “Lousson Baumgartner,” and make a name for himself as a guitarist as well.)
Jazz
The years 1929-1933 proved to be crucial for Reinhardt’s musical career—and refinement of his unique playing technique. Significantly, he abandoned the guitar-banjo in favor of the guitar.
By 1930, Reinhardt was traveling throughout Europe, getting occasional gigs at small clubs—but less concerned with money than becoming known. (Accompanying him on his travels was his new girlfriend, Sophie “Naguine” Ziegler, a distant cousin.)
Sometime around 1932, Reinhardt made the acquaintance of photographer-painter Émile Savitry. Although Reinhardt, by this time, was performing a broad spectrum of music, Savitry’s record collection of American Jazz giants–Louis Armstrong, Lonnie Johnson, Duke Ellington, Eddie Lang, and Joe Venuti–triggered in Reinhardt a vision of becoming a famous Jazz musician himself. Although he would continue to play all the styles he’d mastered as a boy, Jazz would now be his definitive calling.
During the time Reinhardt was developing his touch for Jazz, he met violinist Stéphane Grappelli, a young musician with whom he shared similar musical interests. In 1928, Grappelli had been a member of the orchestra when bandleader Paul Whiteman and guitarist Joe Venuti were performing at the Ambassador Hotel.
In March of 1933, Reinhardt recorded “Parce que je vous aime” (“Because I Love You”) and “Si, j’aime Suzy” (“If I Love Susie”) in Paris, two vocal numbers with lavish guitar work—in which three guitarists, an accordion lead, violin, and double-bass were used.
In August of 1934, Reinhardt recorded several other tunes with multiple guitarists (Joseph Reinhardt, Roger Chaput, and Reinhardt, himself) including the first recording by his new ensemble, Quintette—all geared to what was known as the “Hot Club” sound.
By 1934, both Reinhardt and Grappelli were members of French double-bassist Louis Vola’s Jazz band.
Stardom
From 1934 until the outbreak of WW II (in 1939), Reinhardt and Grappelli worked together as the principal soloists of their newly formed quintet, the Quintette du Hot Club de France, in Paris; the most innovative and accomplished European jazz ensemble of the period—and also the most well-known Jazz ensembles comprised only of stringed instruments. Reinhardt’s brother Joseph and Roger Chaput also played guitar.
In 1935, Decca Records in the US released three records of Quintette with Reinhardt on guitar, and one other, credited to Stephane Grappelli & His Hot 4, with Django Reinhardt. This opened the door for Reinhardt to accompany a number of Jazz greats when they played Paris including, American-born/ UK-based singer Adelaide Hall, saxophonist Coleman Hawkins, and sax/clarinetist Benny Carter. Reinhardt also performed in a jam-session with Louis Armstrong via radio.
In 1938, Reinhardt’s Quintette played to thousands of spectators at an all-star show held in London’s Kilburn State Auditorium. (While performing, Reinhardt noticed American comedian and Vaudeville star Eddie Cantor in the front row. When the set ended, Cantor rose to his feet, went up on stage, and kissed Reinhardt’s hand—unphased by the audience’s surprised reaction.)
A few weeks later, Quintette played at the famous London Palladium.
In 1939 when WWII broke out, Quintette was touring London when the announcement was made that Britain had declared war on Nazi Germany. Effectively disbanding, Grapelli decided to stay in London, while Reinhardt opted to return to France.
Quintette du Hot Club de France would not see each other again for the next seven years,
WWII (1939-1945)
Although Reinhardt intended to made every effort to continue with his music (even finding a replacement for Grapelli), war with Nazi Germany presented Reinhardt with a potentially insurmountable obstacle: as a Romani, and as a Jazz musician. Both Hitler and Joseph Goebbels considered Jazz anti-German counterculture.
Beginning in 1933, all German Romani were barred from living in cities. They were herded into settlement camps, routinely sterilized, with Romani men singled out (much like Jews and gays) and forced to wear a brown Gypsy ID triangle sewn at chest level on their clothing. Circumstances worsened with declaration of war; Romani were rounded up and confined to concentration camps (where many died).
Surprisingly, Goebbels stopped short of a complete ban on Jazz (as many Germans were now fans). And fortunately for the many Jazz musicians living in Europe, the official policy towards Jazz was much less strict in occupied France, with a new generation of French Jazz fans, the “Zazous,” drawn to Hot Club. Jazz music could frequently be heard on both Radio France (France’s official station), and German-controlled, Radio Paris.
Additionally, in that many American musicians based in Paris during the 30s returned to the US at the onset of the war, more work was available for French musicians. And since Reinhardt was the most famous Jazz musician in Europe at this time, he worked steadily during the early war years, and made a great deal of money—though always under the vigilant eye of the Nazi Germans.
While the world was at war, Reinhardt set to expanding his musical horizons. Utilizing an early amplification system, he was able to fill large venues, presenting a more “big-band” format—including the addition of a horn section. He also experimented with classical composition; writing a symphony, a Mass for the Gypsies, and a modernist piece called, Rythme Futur, to placate the Nazis.
But then in 1943, two events occurred that would effect Reinhardt’s personal life and career: Firstly, Reinhardt remarried; this time to long-term girl friend, Sophie “Naguine” Ziegler, in Salbris, France. And secondly, the tide was turning against Nazi Germany, meaning Paris was no longer safe; Romani less so.
Reinhardt twice attempted to escape occupied France—and was twice caught and brought back.
Although one of Reinhardt’s earlier songs, “Nuages” (“Clouds”) became the unofficial anthem signifying hope for liberation in Paris, the occupation of France by the Nazis brought Reinhardt’s career to a virtual standstill.
Touring the US
After the war ended, Reinhardt reconnected with Grappelli in the UK, and by the fall of 1946, had been asked to tour the US as a special guest soloist with Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
Although Reinhardt took great pride in touring with someone of Ellington’s status—and given the opportunity to perform at several major venues—when it ended, he was disappointed that he had not been fully integrated into the band. He’d only been permitted to play a few tunes at the end of the show (backed by Ellington); no special arrangements had been written for him.
After the tour, Reinhardt managed to secure several engagements at popular music venues (including Café Society Uptown), but he’d been promised gigs in California. And they didn’t materialize.
Feeling slighted, in February of 1947, Reinhardt headed back to France; stopping first in New York City, hoping to meet the originators of the so called “Be-Bop” Jazz movement (Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, and Dizzy Gillespie). But they were all away on tour.
Reinhardt had imagined America as anything but a dead end.
Paris and Rome
Upon returning to France, it was apparent to those of his inner circle that Reinhardt was having difficulty readjusting. He’d clearly been thrown by events in America.
Seemingly disinterested in performing, he’d sometimes show up for concerts without a guitar; or would wander off in the middle of a performance. On a few occasions, Reinhardt refused to even get out of bed. After skipping out on a sold-out concert, he began to gain a reputation as being unreliable.
Into the late 1940s, the only thing that seemed to interest Reinhardt was the occasional collaboration with Stéphane Grappelli. But then in 1949, Reinhardt traveled to Rome, enlisted the talents of three renown Italian Jazz musicians (double-bass, piano, and snare drum), and recorded over 60 songs in an Italian studio. (It would be another decade before the recordings were released.)
Back in Paris, in June of 1950, Reinhardt was invited to join an entourage of musicians and celebrities to welcome the return of American Swing-Jazz clarinet great, Benny Goodman. At the reception held in his honor, Goodman reiterated an invitation he’d extended to Reinhardt at their previous meeting, to join him in the US for a few club dates. And though Reinhardt initially accepted, the sting of his last visit to America was still fresh in his mind, so he later turned it down.
Final Years
In 1951, Reinhardt moved his family to the commune of Samois-sur-Seine, near Fontainebleau, France, to live out his final years. There he composed, recorded, and played the Paris Jazz clubs as the mood struck him. And though by some accounts he was more enthusiastic about music than he’d been for several years, Reinhardt devoted much of his time to his new pastime: painting.
Despite his aversion to playing electric guitar (like his American counterparts), in his final years, Reinhardt began experimenting with electrics—as well as a new musical direction: American Jazz “Bebop.”
Selecting the most avant-garde Jazz players available (trumpet player Roger Guérin, sax player Hubert et Raymond Fol, double-bass player Pierre Michelot, pianist Bernard Peiffer, and percussionist Jean-Louis Viale) Reinhardt formed a new ensemble called, Nouvelle Quintette, and introduced his new musical direction to the public
Drawing a great deal of attention in Paris with his new sound, in 1953, American record and concert promoter Norman Granz offered Reinhardt the opportunity to play “Jazz at the Philharmonic.” But before he could join the tour, Django suffered a stroke.
The End
On May 16, 1953, while walking home from Fontainebleau–Avon train station after a performance, Jean“Django” Reinhardt collapsed outside his house from what was later determined to be a brain hemorrhage. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital in Fontainebleau, at the age of 43.
Legacy
For the decade following Reinhardt’s death, interest in his music was minimal. But then in the 1960s—after Rock & Roll had superseded Bebop and electrified instruments came to dominate–Reinhardt’s music and unique playing technique were rediscovered.
Suddenly, new generations of guitar players were striving to replicate Reinhardt’s amazing sound, while old-guard masters like classical guitarist Julian Bream and country guitarist Chet Atkins included him on their lists of the ten greatest guitarists of the 20th Century.
Credited with popularizing Gypsy music, the Festival Django Reinhardt has been held in his honor every last weekend of June since 1983 in Samois-sur-Seine, France, an event where dozens of Gypsy musicians come to play and pay their respects; and since 2017, a similar event has taken place in nearby Fontainebleau.
Additionally, there are various DjangoFests held throughout Europe and the US each year, as well as “Django in June,” an annual camp for Gypsy Jazz musicians and aficionados held at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, in the US.
References:
dafato.com., “Django Reinhardt,” https://www.dafato.com/en/history/biographies/django-reinhardt#google_vignette
jazzfuel.com., “Django Reinhardt Biography – Gypsy Jazz Royalty,” https://jazzfuel.com/django-reinhardt/
britannica.com., “Django Reinhardt,” Django Reinhardt | Gypsy Jazz, Jazz Guitarist, Jazz Manouche | Britannica
jazzstandards.com., “Django Reinhardt,” https://www.jazzstandards.com/biographies/biography_713.htm
newworldencyclopedia.com., “Django Reinhardt,” https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Django_Reinhardt