Reinhardt was born in Liberchies, Pont-à-Celles (Belgium) in 1910 to a Manouche family of Romani descent. The family soon moved to the outskirts of Paris where his mother was a dancer and his father played piano in a family band. The Reinhardts were true Romani gypsies, living in caravans in a Romani encampment and following Romani traditions.
Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani nickname Django ( French: [dʒãŋɡo ʁɛjnaʁt] or [dʒɑ̃ɡo ʁenɑʁt] ), was a Belgian-born Romani -French jazz guitarist and composer. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one of its most significant exponents.
What is Django Reinhardt famous for?
Django Reinhardt 1910- 1953 Jazz Guitarist Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953) stage name Django Reinhardt was a Belgian -born Romani – French jazz guitarist, musician and composer, regarded as one of the greatest musicians of the twentieth century. He was the first jazz talent to emerge from Europe and remains the most significant.
Why did Django Reinhardt return to France?
Reinhardt was touring in England when the World War II broke out. Therefore, he returned to France. It was a politically tumultuous time in the history of Europe and the Nazis had taken control of France. Since the Nazis were against jazz music, Reinhardt felt the need to escape from France.
Who was Django Reinhardt’s parents?
His father was Jean Eugene Weiss and his mother was Laurence Reinhardt. The origin of the nickname ‘Django’ is highly debated. Some claim it means ‘I awake’ in Romani, while others state it was just a different version of ‘Jean’. He grew up near Paris and played the violin, banjo, and guitar from an early age.
Another popular inquiry is “What happened to Django Reinhardt’s sons?”.
One way to consider this is reinhardt’s first son, Lousson (a. k. a. Henri Baumgartner), played jazz in a mostly bebop style in the 1950s and 1960s. He followed the Romani lifestyle and was relatively little recorded. Reinhardt’s second son, Babik, became a guitarist in a more contemporary jazz style, and recorded a number of albums before his death in 2001.
What style of jazz did django reinhardt play?
Gypsy jazz came from Paris in the form of a string band founded by guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli, called Le Quintette du Hot Club de France, which set the precedent for the Gypsy-jazz ensemble and instrumentation. In the original quintet, Django and Stéphane were supported by two rhythm guitars and upright bass.
What was Django Reinhardt’s guitar style?
John Jorgenson thought he’d heard every possible description of Django Reinhardt’s guitar style—until he was asked to play the Gypsy-jazz guitarist’s music for the 2004 film Head in the Clouds. “The British director [John Duigan] said, ‘Django Reinhardt makes a particular sort of a racket on guitar.
Moving to Paris in the 1930s, Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli formed the Quintet of the Hot Club of France. With their swinging fusion of American jazz, Romani rhythms, and Parisian street singing, the quintet catapulted to worldwide fame with the genre they invented, Gypsy jazz.
Where was Reinhardt born and raised?
Reinhardt was born on 23 January 1910 in Liberchies, Pont-à-Celles, Belgium, into a Belgian family of Manouche Romani descent. His father, Jean Eugene Weiss, domiciled in Paris with his wife, and went by Jean-Baptiste Reinhardt, his wife’s surname, to avoid French military conscription. His mother, Laurence Reinhardt, was a dancer.