Django Reinhardt

Django Reinhardt is largely considered the first of the major jazz guitarists. That is, as always in such sweeping statements, a bit of a simplification. But not that much of a simplification. Django was not the first guitarist to play jazz, but he was one the first guitarist to make fast single note playing a staple. Certainly it was Django who put the stamp on the guitar as a major solo instrument.

Django was one of the Romani - gypsies in common parlance - living in France in the early 20th century. He was born in 1910 (actually in Belgium on January 23rd or 24th depending on the source), and during his childhood, he and his family moved around in the horse drawn caravans, although in later years the Traveling People took up motorized transportation and many settled down.

The Romani earned their living by a number of ways, largely as traveling merchants but also as entertainers. Of course in that day and age much entertainment was listening to live music, and gypsies were often seen playing on the street corners and at local fairs. Django started playing guitar around twelve and soon became quite expert. Guitars were mostly used as accompaniment for singing or melodic instruments like violins. But Django began playing melody using a plectrum with what is now called flatpicking.

Django married a young lady named Florine Mayer (called Bella by her friends). Bella herself would make and sell plastic flowers while Django was busking. At that time about the only plastic was celluloid which was made using nitrocellulose or in common parlance, guncotton.

Django would make money performing in local clubs and on the street. Then he would return to his caravan at night. On the night of November 2, 1928, Django just got home (Bella was asleep) and lit a candle. Somehow the flame set one of the celluloid flowers alight and almost immediately the caravan was ablaze. Bella got out virtually unscathed but Django was severely burned. His left hand was almost destroyed. He spent 18 months in a hospital and when he emerged the hand had only two functional fingers.

One night the extended family was sitting in the camp and Django sat down with his guitar. His mother just looked on sadly, but she went into hysterics when Django began playing like he had never been hurt. It seems that when he was in the hospital, he had retaught himself to play using only two fingers. He was soon back in the clubs.

Django played an acoustic guitar although it was amplified. This isn't quite the same as an electric guitar. You get a different sound certainly, but in a Humble CooperToons Opinion, Django's produces a nicer, if admittedly less variable sound.

Django was not, of course, the first jazz guitarist. Blues guitarists had been around for decades but again the guitar was mostly for accompaniment and not primarily as a solo instrument. Probably the first jazz guitarist in the modern sense was Eddie Lang. An extremely early death cut short Eddie's career, but of course, there have been many guitar jazzmen, but only a few were contemporary with Django.

Of course, you can't think of Django without violinist Stephane Grapelli. They, along with Django's brother, Joseph, and Roger Chaput on rhythm guitars and Louis Vossa on bass, formed the Quintette du Hot Club de France in 1934 (at this time franglaise had not been banned by the government). The group played at the (of course) Hot Club de France in Paris. Django, though, was not always the most reliable of performers, and if he didn't feel like showing up for the night, then zut alors!, he wouldn't. So Joseph would have to manage lead guitar. Joseph was quite good but, of course, not as good as Django.

However, with outbreak of war in 1939 the quintet was playing in England. Stephane had just taken ill and decided to stay put until he got better. But two days before he planned to leave, England stopped all travel to France. So Stephane stayed in England for the duration of the war.

Django, though, returned to Paris and formed a new quintet. This was quite dangerous since in 1940 Germany had invaded France and set up the collaborationist government of Vichy (and later took that over as well). Django, with his gypsy heritage, was considered by the Nazi's to be an "undesirable", and many gypsies were in fact sent to and died in concentration camps.

Oddly enough, Django and the Hot Club were left alone. The Germans hoped to gain the hearts and minds of the French and on the surface let the life of Gay Paree continue (but underneath the surface set up a totalitarian terrorist military government). It was also, we should note, a great place for German officers and soldiers to take some R and R. Although jazz was considered a corrupting and malignant influence by the official Nazi party line (and we should mention by a lot of "proper" people in America), the club was popular with German soldiers on leave. There was one officer of the Wehrmacht who liked jazz and used his influence to establish an unofficial "hands-off" policy on the Hot Club. The officer might not have been so tolerant had he learned the Hot Club also became a meeting place for the French Resistance and British spies. It was raided at least once by the Gestapo, but Django and the Quintet were left alone and survived the war.

In his late thirties, Django began showing signs of poor health. Certainly his lifestyle which included generous amounts of liquor and many strong cigarettes didn't help. In 1951, he moved out of Paris to a small town. Samois-sur-Seine. It was close though to Paris that Django could get into town and play a gig if he wanted. But most of the time he lived in retirement spending a lot of time fishing along the Seine. On May 15, 1953, he suffered a stroke and died that day. He was forty-three. Stephan, of course, continued to play and outlived Django by nearly half a century.

References

Django: The Life and Music of a Gypsy Legend, Michael Dregni, Oxford University Press, 2004

Django Reinhardt - Three Fingered Lightning, Documentary, Christian Cascio (Director), (2010)