Django Reinhardt

Biography:
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Born in Liberchies, Pont-à-Celles, Belgium, Reinhardt spent most of his youth in Basque gypsy encampments close to Paris, playing banjo, guitar and violin from an early age professionally at dance halls in Paris. He started first on the violin and eventually moved on to a banjo-guitar that had been given to him and his first known recordings (in 1928) were of him playing the banjo (a banjo guitar has six strings tuned in standard guitar tuning).
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At the age of 18 Reinhardt was injured in a fire that ravaged the caravan he shared with Bella, his first wife. They were very poor. When the fire happened, they lost everything. She made imitation flowers out of celluloid and paper for her living. Consequently, their home was full of this highly flammable material. Returning from a performance late one night, Django apparently knocked over a candle on his way to bed. While his family and neighbors were quick to pull him to safety, he received first- and second-degree burns over half his body. His right leg was paralyzed and his left hand was badly burnt. Doctors believed that he would never play guitar again and intended to amputate the leg. But he left the hospital after a short time and within a year could walk with use of a cane.
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His brother Joseph Reinhardt, an accomplished guitarist in his own right, bought Django a new guitar. With painful rehabilatation and practice Django relearned his craft in a completely new way, even as his third and fourth fingers remained partially paralyzed. He was still able to use these two fingers for playing chords, but was unable to use them for playing solos.
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In 1934, Louis Vola formed the "Quintette du Hot Club de France" with Reinhardt, violinist Stéphane Grappelli, Reinhardt's brother Joseph and Roger Chaput on guitar, and himself on bass. Occasionally Chaput was replaced by Pierre "Baro" Ferret. The concept of "lead guitar" (Django) and backing "rhythm guitar" (Joseph Reinhardt/Roger Chaput or Pierre Ferret) was born with that band. They also used their guitars for percussive sounds, as they had no true percussion section.
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Reinhardt later formed bands with more conventional instrumentations as with clarinet or saxophone, piano, bass and drums. He produced numerous recordings at this time with the quintet. But he played and recorded also with many American Jazz legends such as Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, Rex Stewart (who later stayed in Paris), and a jam-session with jazz legend Louis Armstrong). Reinhardt could neither read nor write music, and was reportedly illiterate because of his gypsy upbringing.
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As World War II was declared, the original quintet was on tour in the United Kingdom. Reinhardt returned to Paris at once, leaving his wife behind. Grappelli remained in the United Kingdom for the duration of the war and Reinhardt reformed the quintet in Paris with Hubert Rostaing on clarinet in place of Grappelli's violin.
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Reinhardt survived World War II unscathed, unlike many other gypsies who perished in the concentration death camps of the Nazis. It was especially hard for Django's people because jazz itself was not allowed under Hitler's regime. He had the help of a Luftwaffe official named Dietrich Schulz-Köhn, also known as "Doktor Jazz", who deeply admired his music. In 1943 Django married Sophie Ziegler in Salbris, with whom he had a son, Babik Reinhardt, who went on to become a respected guitarist in his own right.
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After the war, Reinhardt rejoined Grappelli in the UK, and went on to tour the United States, opening for Duke Ellington, and playing at Carnegie Hall, with many notable musicians and composers such as Maury Deutsch. Despite Reinhardt's great pride in touring with Ellington (one of his two letters to Grappelli relates this excitement), he wasn't really integrated into the band, playing only a few tunes at the end of the show, with no special arrangements written personally for him. He was used to his brother, Joseph, carrying around his guitar for him and tuning it. Allegedly, Reinhardt was given an untuned guitar to play with (discovered after strumming a chord) and it took him five whole minutes to tune it (though it should be noted that this is not an unusual amount of time for a guitar to be tuned, especially before the invention of modern electronic tuners). Also, he was used to playing the Selmer Maccaferri, the guitar he made famous, but he was required to play a new amplified model.
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After "going electric", the results were not as much liked by fans. He returned to France with broken dreams, but continued to play and make many recordings.
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Django Reinhardt was among the first people in France to appreciate and understand the music of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie whom he sought after when he arrived in New York. Unfortunately they were all on tour.
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After returning to France, Django spent the remainder of his days going back to gypsy life, finding it hard to adjust to modern life. One of the most enigmatic events was when Reinhardt allegedly abandoned a newly-purchased car on the side of a road because it had run out of gasoline. Reinhardt would sometimes show up to concerts without a guitar, wander off to the park or beach, or even refuse to get out of bed. He continued composing and is regarded as among the most advanced guitar players of jazz music.
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In 1948, Reinhardt recruited a few Italian jazz players (on bass, piano, and snare drum) and recorded one of his most acclaimed contributions, "Djangology", once again with his compatriot Stephane Grappelli on violin. However, his experience in the U.S. made him a different person than what Grappelli had known, influenced greatly by American jazz. But on this recording, Reinhardt switched back to his old roots, once again playing the Acoustic Selmer-Maccafferi. This recording was recently discovered by jazz enthusiasts and is now available in the U.S. and Europe.
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In 1951, he retired to Samois sur Seine, France, near Fontainebleau. He lived there for two years until May 16, 1953, when, while returning from the Avon train station, he collapsed outside his house from a brain hemorrhage. It took a full day for a doctor to arrive and Django was declared dead on arrival at the hospital in Fontainebleau.
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Original Source, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Django_Reinhardt
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