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Django Reinhardt (1910-1953)Jean "Django" Reinhardt
is the most renowned non-American
jazz man of all time. He was a key figure in the pre-bebop era
and his influence is still very strong amongst young musicians.
He performed and recorded
with his own group "Quintette du Hot Club de France" (co founded with
violinist Stéphane Grappelli) in Europe. He also toured the US (only
once, as a special guest with Duke Ellington and his orchestra.)
 Outside of his only US tour, Django Reinhardt also recorded and played with such American jazz legends as Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong. Django's main influences were European traditional gypsy music and American jazz. Gear and Playing StyleThis fresh-sounding virtuoso was able to improvise melodic lines in a very unique way. His technique and agility is still unsurpassed to this day.And, more importantly.... Django Reinhardt played most of his single-line solos using only two fingers! His left hand was severely damaged from a fire that burned his home (a caravan) when he was 18. The "gypsy-jazz sound" consist of an ensemble of string instruments : bass, violin and many guitars. This type of quintet is the only famous jazz ensemble that used no percussions and no wind instruments. The guitar used by Django and his band mates was the Selmer Maccaferri. It was the first commercially available instrument with a cutaway and had a steel reinforced neck. Luthiers consider it has one of the finest guitar model ever made in history. Video, Licks and TranscriptionsMore Transcriptionscoming soon... Want more jazz guitar lessons? Search all pages on JazzGuitarLessons.net Please contact me with
questions/comments/suggestions or if you would like to post your own Django Reinhardt transcriptions/licks here.
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