#DjangoReinhardt 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. When he was 18, the Belgian gypsy musician lost the use of the third and fourth fingers of his left hand in a caravan fire, forcing him to abandon both the violin and banjo and concentrate on the guitar, playing solos with only his index and second finger. From 1934 until the outbreak of World W

Remembering the great Django Reinhardt who was born on this day in 1910. Reinhardt is regarded as one of the greatest guitar players of all time, and the first important European jazz musician to make a major contribution with jazz guitar. Perhaps his most lasting influence on jazz was the introduction of solos based on melodic improvisation, at a time when guitarists generally played chorded solos. His inimitable improvisations, particularly those in slow tempos, were often a curious but beguil

Django Reinhardt has been called “the greatest guitarist who ever lived.” During the 1930s and 40s, Reinhardt came up with solo and harmonic innovations on the guitar that had a big impact on modern jazz, blues, country, and rock guitar styles. Together with violinist Stephane Grappelli, Reinhardt came up with a new, European style of jazz, called gypsy jazz, or manouche jazz—by fusing Dixieland, swing jazz, French traditional music, gypsy music, and more. He was the first to pioneer a form of j