Django Reinhardt was arguably the greatest guitarist who ever
lived, an important influence on Les Paul, Charlie Christian, B.B.
King, Jerry Garcia, Chet Atkins, and many others. Yet there is no
major biography of Reinhardt.
Now, in Django, Michael Dregni offers a definitive portrait of this
great guitarist. Handsome, charismatic, childlike, and
unpredictable, Reinhardt was a character out of a picaresque novel.
Born in a gypsy caravan at a crossroads in Belgium, he was almost
killed in a freak fire that burned half of his body and left his
left hand twisted into a claw. But with this maimed left hand
flying over the frets and his right hand plucking at dizzying
speed, Django became Europe's most famous jazz musician, commanding
exorbitant fees--and spending the money as fast as he made it.
Dregni not only chronicles this remarkably colorful life--including
a fascinating account of gypsy culture--but he also sheds much
light on Django's musicianship. He examines his long musical
partnership with violinist Stephane Grappelli--the one suave and
smooth, the other sharper and more dissonant--and he traces the
evolution of their novel string jazz ensemble, Quintette du Hot
Club de France. Indeed, the author spotlights Django's amazing
musical diversity, describing his swing-styled Nouveau Quintette,
his big band Django's Music, and his later bebop ensemble, as well
as his many compositions, including symphonic pieces influenced by
Ravel and Debussy and his unfinished organ mass inspired by Bach.
And along the way, the author offers vivid snapshots of the jazz
scene in Paris--colorful portraits of Josephine Baker, Bricktop,
Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, and countless others--and of
Django's vagabond wanderings around France, Europe, and the United
States, where he toured with Duke Ellington.
Capturing the extraordinary life and times of one of the great
musicians of the twentieth century, Django is a must-read portrait
of a true original."
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