By Barbara White
There was something about the thirties. In the midst of the Great Depression there was still a sense of elegance. It was the era of Art Deco and sleek cars. Architecture was simple but expansive with soft lines and understated color. Hollywood gave us portraits of tough leading men and leading ladies dressed in soft satin gowns with hair perfectly curled. 1930's jazz contains all of the elegance, simple grace, and the sleek style. Stephane Grappelli and his friend and fellow musician, Django Reinhardt were two of the best musicians of that time-or any other time if it comes to that. Listening to any of their recordings you are carried back to the small, smoky jazz clubs of Paris or the refined lounges of the Hotel Ritz.
So who was Django Reinhardt?
Born Jean Reinhardt in 1910, Django, as he was called, was the son of Gypsy parents. Until he was ten, he traveled with his clan throughout France, Italy and North Africa.
In the aftermath of World War I, Django's family settled down in de Choisy, France. There Django's father played violin in a popular gypsy quartet. Sometimes young Django would join in. The boy showed a natural aptitude for the violin. By the time he was fifteen, he was a permanent member of the group.
Django might have continued playing the violin, but for an accident when he was eighteen. The caravan in which he was sleeping caught fire. He was lucky to escape with his life. Sadly, he was seriously burned. His right leg was so badly injured that doctors contemplated amputation, a move he refused to accept. His left hand was burned as well. The third and fourth fingers were so damaged that they were virtually useless.
Django began to slip into depression and one of his doctors suggested that he try playing the guitar. It would keep his fingers somewhat flexible and didn't require the dexterity of the violin. Lucky for the rest of us, Django took the advice.
Within the next two years, he had developed his own two-fingered guitar style and along with Stephane Grappelli organized a quintet playing swing style jazz. The group, called "The Quintet Hot Club de France", was in constant demand. Jazz musicians from the United States, Coleman Hawkins and Sidney Bechet among them, went out of their way to sit in. The Quintet Hot Club de France recorded several albums some of which have been remastered as CD's today.
World War II brought all of that to a close. Stephane Grappelli fled to England to escape the worst of it. Django's fame and talent saved him from the Nazi death camps, however he always felt that his luck could run out at any time. He was walking on dangerous ground and he knew it.
Once, during the war, Django and his wife Sophie decided to try to escape to Allied territory. They bid their friends goodbye and slipped off into the night. What happened after that is unclear, but apparently they lost their way. So the same friends were startled when two days later the pair returned.
Sophie must have been an exceptional woman with nerves of steel. Django, who was notably something of a flake, never really trusted the "all clear" sirens when they sounded. He refused to leave whichever shelter he was in until Sophie went outside and came back to tell him that it was really safe.
When the war ended, Django took up where he had left off. He played throughout Europe. In 1946 he accepted an invitation from Duke Ellington to visit the United States and perform with the Duke Ellington Band. For Django who had collected American jazz records and idolized American jazz performers, it was a dream come true.
But ultimately, the dream was a disappointment when jazz critics failed to give Reinhardt very positive reviews.
Truth is Reinhardt never did seem to have a great effect on the critics of his time. In Europe, critics dismissed his original compositions as uninteresting and banal. Today, those same compositions are considered classics. Somewhere in this is buried the truth about critics and their opinions.
Django moved to bebop toward the end of his career. He abandoned swing entirely. Recordings from this period reflect his new style and the maturity of his playing.
In 1951, Django retired from music completely. He moved to Samois sur Seine in France with his wife and young son Babik. He turned his back on his old life and lived in quiet seclusion until his death of a massive stroke in 1953.
The contributions to jazz made by Django Reinhardt are many, but almost unnoticed. His style of play and use of phrasing and color are today standard elements of jazz. Any jazz guitarist worth his salt is familiar with the name Django Reinhardt and his body of work. Most can only hope to play as well.
As colorful as his music was, Django himself was even more so. Those who knew him well learned to accommodate his eccentricities. It wasn't only Sophie who had to humor him, the musicians he played with had to adapt too. If there were Gypsies in the vicinity, Django could be counted on to arrive late to a gig--sometimes he didn't arrive at all-he never turned down an opportunity for a meal and a celebration with his kinfolk. At those times, the band would have to perform opening sets without him. Then, in his trademark Gypsy costumes, Django would stride on stage and sweep the audience off their feet. I have never come across a recounting of what those nights were like when he failed to appear at all, but I imagine it got ugly.
If you haven't yet had the opportunity to hear the music of Django Reinhardt, you owe it to yourself to correct that situation. You local jazz music store should have what you are looking for and if perchance they don't, tell them to order CD's for you.
Postscript
One of Reinhardt's better-known admirers is writer, producer, director, comedian, actor and jazz clarinetist, Woody Allen. His movie Sweet and Low Down is a "mockumentary" about the life and times of the fictitious Emmett Ray, the second greatest guitar player in the world. In the film, one of the running gags revolves around the fact that Ray faints whenever he is in the presence of the greatest guitar player in the world-Django Reinhardt. In fact, I am convinced that should Allen and his wife Soon Yi Previn Allen adopt a third child, they will name it-that's right-Django.
Photo © William P. Gottlieb
