Django Reinhardt - Gypsy Guitar Music Performer - Part 1

Django Reinhardt - Gypsy Guitar Music Performer - Part 1

Just about a half century after his passing, Django Reinhardt still remains a legendary figure in the annals of jazz guitar. To this day, his incendiary guitar playing stands up to that of present day virtuoso jazz guitarists such as Joe Pass, Pat Martino, Johnny Smith and George Benson. Author James Lincoln Collier in his publication "The Making of Jazz", called Django "the most outstanding guitarist in the history of jazz". When you take into account the army of jazz guitarists he has inspired, he may very well be. His groundbreaking style of playing - combining European influenced scales and chords with jazz music rhythms was unheard of during his time. He was among the very first of the European jazz musicians who could cop the jazz feel correctly and he left an historical footprint on the world of jazz guitar music. His major influence was session guitar player Eddie Lang (the first major jazz guitarist) and he learned Lang's European based chordal techniques and took them one step further.Born Jean Baptise Reinhardt to LaBelle Reinhardt and Jean Vees (his assumed father) on January 23, 1910 in Liverchees, Belgium near the French border line, Django was raised in true gypsy fashion - touring around in a caravan and living like a vagabond. He spent much of his early years wandering across Europe, eventually moving just outside of Paris. Django did not attend school and was illiterate - he could neither read nor write. He did however always have a passion and a gift for music and eventually received a banjo from a friend named Raclot when he was twelve years old. He never took structured lessons, but was tutored by his father and other musicians in the area and soon thereafter began performing with his father in cafes. By age fourteen he had become a permanent fixture on the Parisian night club circuit and by age eighteen he made his first record as a sideman, backing up an accordion performer on his banjo.On November 2, 1928, personal tragedy struck. Django heard a faint noise and thought it was a squirrel scurrying around his wagon. He grabbed a lighted candle, which promptly fell out of the candleholder and into a pile of very flammable fake flowers that immediately erupted into flames, setting the entire wagon on fire. Django grabbed a blanket to carry his wife out of the blazing caravan, but his bare legs and left hand were severely burned. Because of the degree of the burns, doctors suggested removing Django's legs, but he adamently refused. He would later regain the use of both burnedlegs. His left hand did not have the same good results and his music career was thought to be doomed. Django was resilient however and trudged along, trying to play guitar again while in the hospital. He finally regained the use of his thumb, index and second fingers, but never the full use of the ring and pinky fingers. Over a year later, he was finally able to play guitar again employing his functioning left-hand fingers! Fortunately, for aspiring gypsy jazz guitar players there are multiple guitar tab books in print that feature Django's recorded guitar solos as well as multiple instructional guitar DVDs that explain his melodic and harmonic concepts along with the techniques he employed to play them.

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