Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 16 May 1953), known by his Romani nickname Django (French:[do jnat] or [do ent]), was a Romani-Belgian jazz guitarist and composer. Jean Reinhardt, popularly known as Django Reinhardt, was a Belgian-born Romani French jazz guitarist and composer. A number of musicians named their sons Django in reference to Reinhardt, including David Crosby, former Slade singer Noddy Holder, Jerry Jeff Walker, Richard Durrant, and actors Nana Visitor and Raphael Sbarge. As well, Reinhardt was known by his band, fans, and managers to be extremely unpredictable. From left to right: Baro Ferret, Lousson Baumgartner (son of Django Reinhardt), Reinhardt and Sarane Ferret. Django Reinhardt, January 23, Gypsy Jazz great Django Reinhardt was born Jean Reinhardt on the 23 January 1910 in Belgium into a Roma family who traveled around France and Belgium, He came from a musical family as his father was a musician and his mother a dancer. Film Review: 'Django'. These performances drew large audiences. The young guitarist was at home with his common-law wife, Bella, in their gypsy caravan on the edge of Paris. This included live sessions and recordings with many American Jazz legends such as Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, Rex Stewart, and a jam-session with jazz legend Louis Armstrong. At the end of the tour, Reinhardt played two nights at Carnegie Hall in New York City; he received a great ovation and took six curtain calls on the first night. [14] During his 18-month hospitalization, doctors recommended amputation of his badly damaged right leg. He was something else. "[64], Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin: "Django Reinhardt was fantastic. He passed away suddenly on 16th May 1953 due to a massive stroke. In his earliest recordings Reinhardt played banjo (or, more accurately, banjo-guitar) accompanying accordionists and singers on dances and popular tunes of the day, with no jazz content, whereas in the last recordings before his death he played amplified guitar in the bebop idiom with a pool of younger, more modern French musicians. In addition, to help support the family, Django earned money by fixing musical instruments and weaving baskets. Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia and Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi, both of whom lost fingers in accidents, were inspired by Reinhardt's example of becoming an accomplished guitar player despite his injuries. [13]:10, Before he had a chance to start with the band, however, Reinhardt nearly died. As a French-speaking Belgian gypsy, he's the first European musical virtuoso to influence American jazz guitarists. children: Babik Reinhardt, Henri Baumgartner, See the events in life of Django Reinhardt in Chronological Order. He was just 43 years old. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one. He was a Sinti Gypsy. The Real Housewives of Atlanta The Bachelor Sister Wives 90 Day Fiance Wife Swap The Amazing Race Australia Married at First Sight The Real Housewives of Dallas My 600-lb Life Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. The recording was issued for the first time in the late 1950s. The actor had three different marriages throughout his life. He reportedly had either ten [9] or sixteen children. Members of the quintet were hesitant to return to France where the Nazis were at work rounding up gypsies. I am very loved by them, and I thank them by offering to them this mass. May 16, 1953 - Jean Baptiste "Django" Reinhardt was born on January 23, 1910 in Liberchies, Pont--Celles, Belgium, into a French family of Manouche Romani descent. The Prix Django Reinhardt is an award that was named after Reinhardt. Django was around his family all the time; when he was not hiding out with them, they would go to where he was. Jazz musician Django Bates was named after him. Select from premium (Attr.) Two of his fingers were badly burnt and he thought that he would never be able to play the guitar again. In 1934, Louis Vola, a local bassist, discovered Joseph and Django Reinhart playing guitars together on a beach at Toulon. He played mainly with a plectrum for maximum volume and attack (particularly in the 1920s-early 30s when amplification in venues was minimal or non-existent), although he could also play fingerstyle on occasion, as evidenced by some recorded introductions and solos. [7] His father, Jean Eugene Weiss, domiciled in Paris with his wife, went by Jean-Baptiste Reinhardt, his wife's surname, to avoid French military conscription. It's the first time I have heard the composition on the organ. [22], In 1938, Reinhardt's quintet played to thousands at an all-star show held in London's Kilburn State auditorium. Sua casa era pequena, de madeira e tinha rodas. [35] For an unsurpassed insight into these techniques in use, interested persons should not miss viewing the only known synchronised (sound and vision) footage of Reinhardt in performance, playing on an instrumental version of the song "J'Attendrai" for the short jazz film Le Jazz Hot in 193839 (copies available on YouTube and elsewhere). stock photos and editorial news pictures from Getty Images. [13]:12, While developing his interest in jazz, Reinhardt met Stphane Grappelli, a young violinist with similar musical interests. Gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt was the first famous European jazz musician. Reinhardt died suddenly of a stroke on 16 May 1953. He also recorded with many other American jazz musicians such as Adelaide Hall, Coleman Hawkins and Benny Carter. [ 6] One noteworthy gain from the trip to America was that he had left France playing swing, but returned thinking of beebop and modern jazz which would be the new direction he ultimately took. It has a little to do with the real Django Reinhardt, jazz guitarist . . On May 16th 1953 Django suffered a massive brain hemorrhage and died, leaving behind his wife Sophie and son Babik. In his apartment, he would sometimes leave water running to mimic the sound of a stream, and he hated electric lights preferring instead lanterns. At 18, Django married Bella, a girl from his gypsy camp. His young wife, Florine "Bella" Mayer, made fake flowers from celluloid and paper and their caravan was filled with highly flammable materials. He also attended a reception for Goodman, who, after the war ended, had asked Reinhardt to join him in the U.S. Goodman repeated his invitation and, out of politeness, Reinhardt accepted. On a few occasions he even refused to get out of bed. The group was among the first to play jazz that featured the guitar as a lead instrument. Django Reinhardt played by and from his heart, driven to excel in his craft out of his love for it more than his duty to it. In 1928, Grappelli had been a member of the orchestra at the Ambassador Hotel while bandleader Paul Whiteman and Joe Venuti were performing there. In 1943, Reinhardt married his long-term partner Sophie "Naguine" Ziegler in Salbris. They were also famous for using an inventive style of employing their guitars for percussion purposes, as they had no true percussion section. "Woody Allen movie resurrects music of jazz great Reinhardt", "Django Reinhardt Jattendrai Swing 1939 live", "The Hot Jazz: Le Hot Club de France, Vols. [11]:92 While playing, he noticed American film actor Eddie Cantor in the front row. . Django's ability to bend his guitar to the most fantastic audacities, combined with his expressive inflections and vibrato, is no less wonderful; one feels an extraordinary flame burning through every note. Though only two fingers of his left hand were functional, he became one of the most famed and prominent jazz musicians in the world. Django Reinhardt Jean Baptiste Reinhardt Guitarrista de jazz y compositor belga Naci el 23 de enero de 1910 en Liverchies, Blgica, en medio de una gira artstica familiar y en el seno de una familia gitana. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic. Introduction: This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. The story of Django Reinhardt, famous guitarist and composer, and his flight from German-occupied Paris in 1943. He had no specific goals, living a hand-to-mouth existence, spending his earnings as quickly as he made them. Even the few times he does not quite make his ideas flow out flawlessly it is still so exciting that mistakes don't matter! [27], One of his tunes, 1940's "Nuages",[28] became an unofficial anthem in Paris to signify hope for liberation. So Django Reinhardt was born in Belgium in 1910 but moved to France. He also produced some of his characteristic "effects" by moving a fixed shape (such as a diminished chord) rapidly up and down the fretboard, resulting in what one writer has called "intervallic cycling of melodic motifs and chords". The Modern Jazz Quartet titled one of their albums Django in honor of him. Minor Blues - Django Reinhardt | Gypsy Guitar Tab - YouTube 0:00 / 1:51 Minor Blues - Django Reinhardt | Gypsy Guitar Tab From Music 31.6K subscribers Subscribe 14K views 6 months ago. After "going electric," the results were not as well received by fans. It premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and was met with mixed reviews. In his final recordings, made with his Nouvelle Quintette in the last few months of his life, he had begun moving in a new musical direction, in which he assimilated the vocabulary of bebop and fused it with his own melodic style.[33]. [6], Using a Selmer guitar in the mid-1930s, his style took on new volume and expressiveness. DR: I prefer to write in the evening very late or in the morning in my bed. He followed the Romani lifestyle and was relatively little recorded. Jean 'Django' Reinhardt (23 January 1910 - 16 May 1953) was a Belgian guitarist and composer credited with popularizing Gypsy jazz, as well as conceptualizing the style together with several other Gypsy musicians. Healed, Reinhardt found he had lost his wife, his job, his caravan . Hearing their music triggered in Reinhardt a vision and goal of becoming a jazz professional. Django Reinhardt first married a girl named Florine Mayer when he was seventeen. By the mid-1930s, he had also started playing with the violinist Stphane Grappelli, and with her, he formed the Quintet of the Hot Club. In 2005, a documentary film named Djangomania was released. His relative association of experience, reinforced by a profound rational knowledge of his instrument; the guitar's possibilities and limitations; his love for music and the expression of itall are a necessary adjunct to the means of expressing these emotions.[36]. But it might come to pass, perhaps one day. About Django Reinhardt Born in Belgium in 1910 and raised in France, Romani guitarist Django Reinhardt was the first European jazz musician to carve out a unique stylejazz manouchewedding the virtuosic speed and rhythmic conception of Roma traditional music with jazz improvisation. Joseph's son Markus Reinhardt is a violinist in the Romani style. However, he did continue to compose and entertain audiences, although irregularly, and in 1948 recruited a few Italian jazz players (on bass, piano, and snare drum) along with compatriot Grappelli on violin to record one of his most acclaimed contributions to the jazz world, "Djangology." Furthermore, what makes his style of playing so special? [30][31], In Rome in 1949, Reinhardt recruited three Italian jazz players (on bass, piano, and snare drum) and recorded over 60 tunes in an Italian studio. Death: Immediate Family: Wife of Django Reinhardt. Discover Very Best of Django Reinhardt [Greatest Hits] by Django Reinhardt released in 2007. He participated in a jam session and radio performance with Louis Armstrong. I dictate it to him. However, they parted shortly after the accident. Additional problems occurred around the dilemma of Django never having learned to tune his own guitar (he had always relied upon his brother Joseph). 37-42. [52], In 1984 the Kool Jazz Festival, held in Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall, was dedicated entirely to Reinhardt. Born as Jean in Belgium, Reinhardt was of Manouche Romani descent. Grappelli remained in the United Kingdom for the duration of the war. In Paris on 14 March 1933, Reinhardt recorded two takes each of "Parce que je vous aime" and "Si, j'aime Suzy", vocal numbers with lots of guitar fills and guitar support. It was then, in 1932 or 1933, that a friend of his invited him up to his apartment to listen to some records. [2]:154[25] Nonetheless, Goebbels stopped short of a complete ban on jazz, which now had many fans in Germany and elsewhere. He also experimented with classical composition, writing a Mass for the Gypsies and a symphony. He was sent back to Paris, where he tried developing other forms of music since the Nazis completely disapproved of jazz. Nevertheless, Reinhardt kept playing. Lousson was frequently on the road in the 1950s and 1960s and never recorded commercially except for an unreleased 1960s studio recording from Paris with violinist Vivian Villerstein.[3]. Born with inborn musical skills, he was mostly self-taught. Seus pais, Jean-Eugne Weiss e Laurence Reinhardt, ciganos franceses, o criaram em meio ao seu acampamento. Though they survived, he and his wife both suffered severe burns. [11]:3135, Within a year of the fire, in 1929, Bella Mayer gave birth to their son, Henri "Lousson" Reinhardt. A French film based on his lifetitled Djangowas also released recently. Django remains a cultural hero to maverick guitarists world-round who play his music as homage to the legendary architect of the "gypsy jazz" sound. Nicknamed "Naguine," she and Reinhardt were distant cousins. Dallas Baumgartner, a great-grandson by Lousson, is a guitarist who travels with the Romani and keeps a low public profile. His mother, also, was a talent in her own right, often performing in song and dance on the tailgate of the caravan. Jean "Django" Reinhardt was born in 1910 in a caravan outside the Belgian town of Liberchies to a family of itinerant Romaniknown colloquially as GypsiesReinhardt was serenading cabaret patrons on guitar and banjo by age 12. But in jazz, Louis Armstrong was a genius, Duke Ellington was another one, and Reinhardt was also. (Organ begins to play) Henri Baumgartner), played jazz in a mostly bebop style in the 1950s and 1960s. He would also periodically vanish for greater lengths, disappearing for a week or two to play at his beloved gypsy campfires. [32], Back in Paris, in June 1950, Reinhardt was invited to join an entourage to welcome the return of Benny Goodman. The wagon was quickly engulfed in flames. So, how much is Django Reinhardt worth at the age of 43 years old? Jeff Rush Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:48:33 -0700 Michael Schurter wrote: > > Speaking of protecting the logo, my wife contacted the PSF a couple > weeks ago about using the logo on a small run of laptop sleeves she's > crafting. Reinhardt recorded over 900 sides in his recording career, from 1928 to 1953, the majority as sides of the then-prevalent 78-RPM records, with the remainder as acetates, transcription discs, private and off-air recordings (of radio broadcasts), and part of a film soundtrack. Despite his pride in touring with Ellington (one of two letters to Grappelli relates his excitement), he was not fully integrated into the band. After having played a broad spectrum of music, he was introduced to American jazz by an acquaintance, mile Savitry, whose record collection included such musical luminaries as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang. King; the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia; Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi; Jimi Hendrix; Shawn Lane; Stevie Ray Vaughan; Mark Knopfler; Les Paul; Joe Pass; Peter Frampton; Denny Laine;Jeff Beck; Steve Howe; Charlie Christian; George Benson; Wes Montgomery; Martin Taylor; Tchavolo Schmitt; Stochelo Rosenberg; Birli Lagrne; John Jorgenson; Michael Angelo Batio; Richard Thompson; Robert Fripp; and Jeff Martin. [46][47], Woody Allen's film Sweet and Lowdown (1999), the story of a Django Reinhardt-like character, mentions Reinhardt and includes actual recordings in the film. This marriage also produced one son. Reinhardt's most popular compositions have become standards within gypsy jazz, including "Minor Swing",[5] "Daphne", "Belleville", "Djangology", "Swing '42", and "Nuages". Both his sons, Lousson and Babik, also followed in his footsteps and became jazz guitarists. 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