THIS WEEK’S MUSE
DJANGO REINHARDT
“Jazz attracted me because in it I found a formal perfection and instrumental precision that I admire in classical music, but which popular music doesn’t have.”
Django Reinhardt was a guitarist and composer and, in the late 1930s, one of the first major jazz talents to emerge from Europe. As a remarkable exponent of jazz, Gypsy jazz, bebop, and traditional Romani music, he is considered one of the most innovative guitarists of the 20th century.
Reinhardt was born in 1910 in Liberchies, a small town in central Belgium. His family was of Romani descent, his father a musician and artist and his mother a dancer. They led a nomadic life, entertaining the locals for money as they traveled from town to town.
Reinhardt spent much of his childhood in Romani camps near Paris, where he learned to play violin, banjo and guitar. He took to playing music quickly and by his mid-teens he was making a living busking in cafés. By eighteen, he was a word-of-mouth sensation within the Parisian underground scene.
In late 1928, his verdon (a Romani caravan), where he lived with his pregnant wife, caught fire. They survived, but Reinhardt was seriously injured. Aside from almost losing a leg, he lost the use of two fingers on his left hand and faced the prospect of never playing guitar again.
Despite the injuries to his hand, he was determined to continue playing. But in order to do so, he had to change the way he played; specifically, he had to completely reinvent how he used his left hand to make chords.
However, while initially a drawback, the enforced reinvention gave him a new style and sound. It presented a unique freedom that enabled him to roam the fretboard unrestrained by formality and allow full flight to his musical imagination.
In the early 1930s, Reinhardt traveled through France playing music at small clubs, just as he had done in the cafés as a teenager. His reputation as an innovator was growing fast as he immersed himself in the rising jazz scene. He became passionate about the new stars – the music of Stéphane Grappelli, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang – and others. Playing jazz was now Reinhardt’s clear and sole ambition.
Significantly, after relearning and ultimately improving his guitar playing, Reinhardt now had an innovative and inventive style that separated him from his peers. He was also in the right place at the right time to ride the jazz wave as it exploded around him. Within a few years he was playing as a soloist with Stephan Grappelli in the Quintette du Hot Club de France. The new band thrived and was sought out by visiting American jazz musicians; both Louis Armstrong and Coleman Hawkins performed with him.
Before Reinhardt, the guitar was largely a rhythm instrument. Afterwards, the guitar was never the same. He explored and exposed all its melodic possibilities, twisting and bending American jazz tunes, Russian waltzes, and Romani folk tunes into frantic, dynamic masterpieces. His innovative interpretations became what is now referred to as Gypsy Swing – “hot music made for dancing.”
Although he died aged 43 and his career was short, his influence on those that followed him was enduring. BB King, Julian Bream, Jerry Garcia, Hank Marvin, Robert Fripp and Carlos Santana, and many more, admitted Reinhardt’s unique influence. Jimi Hendrix named his group Band of Gypsies in honor of Reinhardt. Jeff Beck called him, “By far the most astonishing guitar player ever…Django was quite superhuman.”
HAPPENINGS
Sunday, February 13, at 3pm
L-O-V-E: A Tribute to Nat King Cole
With Robbie Pate
Come enjoy a tribute to Nat King Cole, performed by Robert “Robbie” Pate, a jazz vocalist and pianist from Baltimore, Maryland, residing in Boston, Massachusetts. Robert has performed at several venues throughout the Boston and Baltimore area, such as The Beat Brasserie, The LilyPad, MFA in Boston, and the Museum of African American History.
Accompanying Robbie Pate will be Jacob Hiser, piano; John D’Amico, guitar; Alex Bilodeau, bass; and Ryan Sands, drums.
$25
BOOK YOUR TABLE!