Historical Figures Codexery

Django Reinhardt

Belgian jazz guitarist and composer, co-founder of the Quintette du Hot Club de France.

Jean Reinhardt, known as Django Reinhardt, was a Belgian jazz guitarist and composer born on 23 January 1910 in Liberchies, Pont-à-Celles, Belgium.[1][2] In 1934, Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli created the Quintette du Hot Club de France in Paris, an ensemble that was among the first jazz groups to make the guitar a lead instrument.[3][4]

Quick Facts

Birth name
Jean Reinhardt
Born
23 January 1910
Birthplace
Liberchies, Pont-à-Celles, Belgium
Died
16 May 1953
Place of death
Fontainebleau, France
Spouse
Florine Mayer (1927); Sophie Ziegler (1943)
Relatives
  • Joseph Reinhardt (brother)
  • Lousson Reinhardt (son)
  • Babik Reinhardt (son)

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

At age 12 he received a banjo-guitar as a gift and quickly taught himself to play, mimicking the fingerings of musicians he watched.[5] On the night of 2 November 1928, Reinhardt knocked over a candle in his caravan, which ignited celluloid his wife used for artificial flowers, causing extensive burns over half his body.[6] The fourth and fifth fingers of his left hand were badly burned, and doctors believed he would never play guitar again.[7] Reinhardt retired to Samois-sur-Seine in 1951, where he lived until his death from a brain hemorrhage on 16 May 1953 at age 43.[8][9]

While hospitalized for 18 months, doctors wanted to amputate Reinhardt's severely burned right leg, but he declined and later managed to walk using a cane.[6][10] Pierre Nourry asked Reinhardt and Grappelli to create the Quintette du Hot Club de France, which included bassist Louis Vola and guitarists Joseph Reinhardt and Roger Chaput.[11] During World War II, Reinhardt put together a new version of the quintet, substituting clarinetist Hubert Rostaing for Grappelli, who stayed in the United Kingdom.[12][13] In the fall of 1946, Reinhardt traveled to the United States for the first time, performing as a featured guest soloist with Duke Ellington and His Orchestra at the Cleveland Music Hall.[14]

What the cited sources add

The same source notes that by age 18 Reinhardt had begun recording, starting a career that would include hundreds of sessions and as many as 1,000 recorded pieces.[15] The gypsyjazzuk.wordpress.com analysis describes how Reinhardt's injuries forced him to create a new fingering system built around the two fingers on his left hand that had full mobility.[16] The same source states that by 1949 the bebop influence on Reinhardt's playing is obvious.[17] The Sharp interview notes that Reinhardt's son Babik, along with Frank Hagege, started and organized the "DJANGO D'OR" yearly concerts and competitions held in Samois sur Seine.[18]

According to Wikipedia, Reinhardt's nickname "Django" may be Romani for "I awake" or a diminutive of "Jean".[19] The analysis of film footage shows that Reinhardt could stretch the tips of his index and middle fingers at least 120mm apart, a span that, along with the remarkable length of those fingers, made his technique possible.[16]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Django Reinhardt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Une pièce à l'effigie de Django Reinhardt et 2 euros pour la présidence", Le Soir, 27 May 2010; "Django Reinhardt, le créateur du jazz manouche", France Fraternités, 25 May 2018; "Berlinale 2017: un biopic consacré au guitariste de jazz belge Django Reinhardt en ouverture", RTBF; Dauchot, "Django Reinhardt, bien plus qu'un guitariste de swing", La Libre.be, 5 November 2024; Dregni, "Django: The Life and Music of a Gypsy Legend", Oxford University Press, 2004; Baronian, "Dictionnaire amoureux de la Belgique", edi8, 8 October 2015, p. 3 en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Django Reinhardt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Balen, "Django Reinhardt : Le Génie vagabond", Rocher, 2003; Baronian, "Dictionnaire amoureux de la Belgique", edi8, 8 October 2015, p. 376; Balen, "Django Reinhardt : Le Génie vagabond", Rocher, 2003; "Django Reinhardt and the Illustrated History of Gypsy Jazz", All About Jazz, 7 May 2007; "Django Reinhardt and the Illustrated History of Gypsy Jazz", All About Jazz, 7 May 2007; "Official birth certificate of Jean Reinhardt", Django Station (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Django Reinhardt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Django Reinhardt Jattendrai Swing 1939 live", 23 November 2015 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Django Reinhardt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jurek, "The Hot Jazz: Le Hot Club de France, Vols. 1–4", AllMusic (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Django Reinhardt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Dregni, "Django: The Life and Music of a Gypsy Legend", Oxford University Press, 2004 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Django Reinhardt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Gypsy Jazz and Django Reinhardt", Flatpick.com, 2 November 1928 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Django Reinhardt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Delaunay, "Django Reinhardt", Da Capo Press, 1961}} {{isbn; Fogg, Rod. Django Reinhardt: Know the Man, Play the Music, Hal Leonard Corp. (2005); Marty, "Django ressuscité: contribution à l'étude d'une auto-rééducation fonctionnelle en 1925", Copédit, 2005; Delaunay, "Django Reinhardt", Da Capo Press, 1961}} {{isbn (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Django Reinhardt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Givan, "The Music of Django Reinhardt", University of Michigan Press, 2010, p. 158–94 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Django Reinhardt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Delaunay, "Django Reinhardt", Da Capo Press, 1961}} {{isbn; Delaunay, "Django Reinhardt", Da Capo Press, 1961}} {{isbn (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Django Reinhardt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Fogg, Rod. Django Reinhardt: Know the Man, Play the Music, Hal Leonard Corp. (2005) (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Django Reinhardt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Dregni, "Django Reinhardt and the Illustrated History of Gypsy Jazz", Speck Press, 2006 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  12. Wikipedia, "Django Reinhardt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Delaunay, "Django Reinhardt", Da Capo Press, 1961}} {{isbn (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  13. Wikipedia, "Django Reinhardt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sharp, "Babik Reinhardt", The Django Reinhardt Swing Page (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  14. Wikipedia, "Django Reinhardt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Meiksins, "Django Reinhardt at the Music Hall", Cleveland Historical (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  15. "Gypsy Jazz and Django Reinhardt", Flatpick.com, 2 November 1928. facts only, no text reused. flatpick.com
  16. Django's Fret Hand & Fingerboard Technique. Available at gypsyjazzuk.wordpress.com.. facts only, no text reused. gypsyjazzuk.wordpress.com
  17. Jefferies, Wayne: Django's Forgotten Era www.hotclub.co.uk (reprinted from U.K Django Fanzine "Djazzology"). facts only, no text reused. hotclub.co.uk
  18. Sharp, "Babik Reinhardt", The Django Reinhardt Swing Page. facts only, no text reused. hotclub.co.uk
  19. Wikipedia, "Django Reinhardt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Dregni, "Django: The Life and Music of a Gypsy Legend", Oxford University Press, 2004; "Sinti culture, language & the origin of the name Django", Djangobooks.com, 28 August 2014 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Django Reinhardt (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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