| Django Reinhardt, Alive and Well |
| by Charlie Hall |
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DJANGO REINHARDT NEWS, the web site proclaimed. News about a man who’s been dead almost fifty years seems a bit of a stretch, but what that bold statement really tells us is that Django Reinhardt’s music touches more people today than ever before. The Gypsy guitarist who played with only two fingers of his left hand, Europe’s first jazz superstar, the unschooled genius who created his own musical and compositional style, would be amused and amazed to find that his music—in his own recordings and in performances by his followers—is enjoyed all over the world today. Jean “Django” Reinhardt was born January 23, 1910 in Liberchies, Belgium, the son of performers in a Gypsy show troupe. His father played the violin, his mother was a dancer and acrobat known as “La Belle Laurence,” and their caravan toured across France, Italy, and Corsica. After spending much of the first World War in North Africa, they settled in a Gypsy camp outside Paris where Django first learned to play the violin, and later the banjo. |
Click here for more info on the Selmer-Maccaferri style guitar |
At the age of 13, he was playing in Parisian dives with a Gypsy accordionist named Guerino, and that year won first prize in an annual contest held by dance hall musicians. He made his first recording at 14, playing banjo. He learned the music of his own culture, the Gypsy guitar music of Poulette Castro, Laro Castro, Matteo Garcia, and Gusti Malha. In 1925, he heard his first American-style music and began his lifelong love affair with jazz. By 1927, Django’s reputation among Parisian musicians had grown such that he was now playing in the Belleville section of Paris with accordionist Maurice Alexander’s orchestra, and was being featured on American tunes as “The Sheik of Araby” and “Dinah.”
 Django Reinhardt with the Quntet of the Hot Club of France |
In late 1928, British bandleader Jack Hylton hired him to appear in London with the Hylton orchestra. On November 2, a few weeks before he was to go to London, a fire consumed his family’s caravan trailer, severely burning him over much of his body and costing him the use of the third and fourth fingers on his left hand. During months of rehabilitation, Django turned his full attention to the guitar and taught himself to fret the instrument with his first and second fingers, developing a remarkable technique of two-finger chording and soloing. |
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Django returned to performing in 1930, and as he played the jazz clubs in Paris, he also listened to the recordings of such American jazz greats as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and the guitar-violin duo of Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti. He soon melded these American styles, tonalities from his Gypsy heritage, and his own amazing improvisational talents into his own style, often called “Gypsy Jazz.” In 1934, he and legendary violinist Stéphane Grappelli co-founded a jazz quintet which included Roger Chaput and Django’s brother Joseph Reinhardt on rhythm guitars, and Louis Vola on bass. After a short time at the tony Paris jazz spot, the Hot Club de France, they became known as the Quintette du Hot Club de France, and within a few years had achieved international renown and made several hundred recordings. Now, many of the American jazz notables were traveling to Paris to play with this revolutionary new group. |
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When the second World War broke out, the quintet was
touring England. Grappelli stayed in London for the rest of the war, but
Django returned to France, even as many of his Gypsy brethren were being
sent to the concentration camps. During the occupation of France, he came
under the protection of a German army officer named Dietrich Schultz-Kohn,
who was a fan of his music. He married his second wife, Sophie, in 1943,
and his son Babik was born in 1944.
After the war, he toured the U.S. in 1946 with the Duke Ellington
orchestra but did not receive the hero’s welcome he expected—and rightly
deserved. While he was a giant among his fellow musicians, he soon found
this did not translate into critical or popular success. Even after
receiving the most curtain calls of any soloist at Carnegie Hall, critics
were lukewarm to his performance. He returned, disillusioned, to France
where he turned his attention to playing bebop, performing with a new
quintet, and occasionally with Grappelli.
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In 1951, feeling that his music was misunderstood and disenchanted with the music scene, he retired with his wife and son to the small village of Samois sur Seine near Fountainebleau, where he spent most of his time fishing and painting, playing occasionally. In May 1953, he died of a stroke, and was buried at a small cemetery near Samois. It is believed that Django Reinhardt made between 750 and 1,000 recordings, including many American pop and jazz songs—“Tiger Rag,” “Oh, Lady Be Good”—as well as his original compositions such as the international hit “Nuages,” “Swing 51,” “Swing 42,” and many others. |
Today, festivals and jazz organizations—including the Django Reinhardt Festival in Samois, France—celebrate his music. Jazz clubs on six continents feature his music, and there are hundreds of Hot Club-style groups today, among them Pearl Django of Seattle, Nuages, and The Hot Clubs of San Francisco, Atlanta, Tokyo, Nottingham, Amsterdam, France, Sutton (England), Nashville (formed by BRAS feature performer Richard Smith), Cowtown (a Django/Bob Wills fusion trio from Austin), plus Colorado Springs’ own Mango fan Django and The Rhythm Brothers of Southern California.
Many movies have celebrated the music of Django Reinhardt, among them Woody Allen’s “Stardust Memories,” the 1993 movie “Swing Kids,” “Sweet and Lowdown” starring Sean Penn, last year’s “Chocolat,” and many documentaries about him and his music.
In a 1954 interview, Stéphane Grappelli said of Django, “There can be many other fine guitarists, but never can there be another Reinhardt. I am sure of that.” For thousands, having his music seems to be the next best thing.
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The Selmer-Maccaferri style guitar Django Reinhardt played—which contributed greatly to his distinctive sound—is being reproduced in large numbers today by luthiers in Canada, the U.S., the U.K., the Netherlands, France and Denmark. Here’s a small sample of folks that are making Selmer Maccaferri style instruments today: Here’s a small sample of folks that are making Selmer Maccaferri style instruments today: Michael Dunn (www.michaeldunnguitars.com) of New Westminster, British Columbia, makes several different models, using many different exotic woods. Dell’Arte Instruments (www.dellarteinstruments.com) of San Diego features instruments made by John Kinnard. Eimers guitars (www.eimers-guitars.nl) of IJsselstein, Netherlands, has specialized for over 10 years in the large-soundhole (called “grande bouche”) and the oval-soundhole models as well. John Le Voi (www.levoi.freeserve.co.uk) is in the U.K. and specializes in Gypsy jazz guitars. Shelley Park (www.parkguitars.com/) of British Columbia is the rhythm guitarist with Pearl Django of Seattle, and makes all the guitars used by Pearl Django. Nyberg Instruments (www.island.net/~nyberg/), also of British Columbia, makes bouzoukis, citterns, and Swedish folk instruments as well as a range of guitars. Paul Hostetter (www.lutherie.net) has the most entertaining and whimsical page, containing many links to information about all sorts of guitars. Gerrit Van Bergeijk (www.gitaarbouw.nl) is also in the Netherlands and makes both classical instruments and Selmer Maccaferri-style guitars. For more builders in the U.S., check out the Guild of American Luthiers at www.luth.org or the huge list at home.rochester.rr.com/ronelong/makers.htm.
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