Django Reinhardt

Emerging from Europe as its first major jazz innovator, the Romani-French guitarist Django Reinhardt earned primary credit for shaping the genre later called gypsy jazz, jazz manouche, or hot club jazz. Before amplification reached most ensembles, he devised an original method for placing the acoustic guitar at the forefront of a jazz group. Above the steady pulse of two rhythm guitars and bass, he delivered exuberant, curving lines filled with striking inflection, while the smoothly flowing violin of longtime partner Stephane Grappelli supplied an ideal contrast. His chordal ideas astonished contemporaries and left a clear mark on players such as Charlie Christian and Les Paul; behind Grappelli he also drove the rhythm with such force that the ensembles surged forward. The same string-band approach influenced the concurrent rise of Western swing and, through it, the broader stream that became modern country music. Unable to read notation, Reinhardt nevertheless wrote several charming and distinctive melodies, some in collaboration with Grappelli and others alone—“Daphne,” “Nuages,” and “Manoir de Mes Reves”—alongside brisk swing numbers such as “Minor Swing” and the tribute to his 1930s label, “Stomping at Decca.” As critic Ralph Gleason later observed of the recordings, “They were European and they were French and they were still jazz.”

Initially a violinist who later turned to guitar, Jean Baptiste “Django” Reinhardt spent his early years outside Paris in a Manouche Romani household and absorbed the musical customs that evolved into gypsy jazz. A caravan fire in 1928 severely damaged his left hand, leaving the fourth and fifth fingers unusable; through resourceful adaptation he created a new fingering method that helped define the distinctive character of his playing. During convalescence he first encountered American jazz upon discovering a 78 rpm pressing of Louis Armstrong’s “Dallas Blues” at a flea market in Orleans. He soon returned to performing in Paris cafés, and in 1934 Hot Club organizer Pierre Nourry suggested forming an all-string ensemble with Grappelli. The resulting Quintet of the Hot Club of France rapidly gained worldwide attention through an extensive and acclaimed series of recordings for Ultraphone, Decca, and HMV.

The start of war in 1939 dissolved the Quintette when Grappelli stayed in London and Reinhardt returned to France. Throughout the occupation he directed a large ensemble and a smaller group featuring clarinetist Hubert Rostaing in Grappelli’s stead; after the city’s liberation he also recorded with visiting Americans Mel Powell, Peanuts Hucko, and Ray McKinley. In 1946 Reinhardt adopted the electric guitar and crossed the Atlantic to appear as featured soloist with the Duke Ellington orchestra, though the engagements met with limited enthusiasm. Certain later electric sessions veered into bop territory, producing tense, angular phrases far removed from his earlier buoyant swing. Beginning that same January, however, he and Grappelli staged occasional reunions in which bop elements blended more seamlessly with the original swinging framework. During the 1950s Reinhardt withdrew further from public view, remaining on the Continent and performing or recording only sporadically until a stroke ended his life in 1953. The Hot Club sides from the 1930s remain his most captivating achievement; their energy and texture continue to resonate in present-day ensembles such as Holland’s Rosenberg Trio.