Reinhardt, Django

Jean Renart (his name is better known in the version of "Django Reinhardt") was born into a family of nomadic gypsies in Belgium , Brabant province. Together with his family he visited France , Italy , Algeria and Corsica . The Reinhardt family eventually settled in France , on the outskirts of Paris . The Reinhardts made wicker furniture for living rooms, although among them were amateur musicians ^[2] .

It is believed that the real ("legal") name of Django was Jean-Baptiste, but the birth certificate states: "Jean Reinhart, son of Jean-Baptiste Reinhart" ^[3]

Django's first musical instruments were violin and banjo . Accordionist Fredo Gardoni recalled that he met Jean-Baptiste when he was 9 years old, and even then Reinhardt masterfully played the banjo and was a real little artisan - masterfully carved figures of horses and carriages from wood.

Rumors about the talent of the little manush diverged according to gypsy camps : they said that once, for the first time, he played seventeen melodies on a banjo played on an accordion that he had never heard before.

On the violin, Django could also play many classical works by gypsy composers of Hungary .

From early childhood, music Reinhardt got his daily bread. However, at some point it seemed that he would have to say goodbye to his beloved profession: during the fire in the camp, the 18-year-old musician was very much injured. Only three fingers remained working on his left hand: thumb, index and middle.

For a year and a half, Django was bedridden. Wanting to take him, his younger brother Jose brought him a guitar , and the crippled Reinhardt began to learn to play again, surprising the hospital staff with his tenacity. With long painful exercises, the young guitarist was able, contrary to all expectations, to overcome the injury, while simultaneously developing his own independent playing technique. Now he played not traditional and classical gypsy music, but jazz , which is in fashion. True, in a gypsy manner.

After leaving the hospital, Jango’s business went up sharply. In 1934, he met the violinist and pianist Stefan Grappelli , who worked in a Paris cabaret and a taper in cinemas. In 1934, Reinhardt and Grappelli formed the Quintette du Hot Club de France. It also included Django's brother Joseph Reinhardt, Roger Chaput on guitars and Louis Vola on bass. Sometimes Chaput was replaced by Reinhardt's best friend, also gypsy Pierre “Baro” Ferret . Vocalist Freddy Taylor has been involved in recording several songs, such as Georgia On My Mind and Nagasaki. Jean Sablon was the first singer to record more than 30 songs with them since 1933. The members of the quintet extracted percussion sounds from their guitars, since they did not have percussion in their composition. The Quintette du Hot Club de France at that time was one of the few famous jazz ensembles that consisted only of stringed instruments.

The talent, intelligence and charm of Django made him popular in a creative environment - he was friends with artists, musicians, artists , writers and poets of France, the USA and Europe .

During the years of the occupation of France, Django played even more than when he did it for the sake of money. The fact is that the Nazis did not tolerate jazz , this "antics of black subhuman people." Each Django concert was a challenge to the invaders, giving hope and courage to the French listeners.

Django Reinhardt survived the war unscathed, unlike the hundreds of thousands of European gypsies who died during the gypsy genocide . Reinhardt was well aware of the danger, he and his family made several unsuccessful attempts to escape from occupied France. The miracle of his survival is partly due to the fact that he enjoyed the protection of (secretly) Nazi-loving jazz Nazis, such as the Luftwaffe officer Dietrich Schulz-Köhn, nicknamed "Doctor Jazz" ^[2] .

When Django and his entire group were persistently invited to the "tour of Germany ", the musicians split up and began to hide. Reinhardt left France and tried to obtain asylum in neutral Switzerland , but was refused. Django had to return to a nomadic lifestyle. He wandered around France in the company of musicians and gypsies. In the end, he returned to Paris. There he opened his own club, La Roulotte (Van).

During the war, a mass was written for the organ, chorus and string instruments “Requiem for Gypsy Brothers”. Nowadays, the notes of the mass have been lost and few performers who know how to play it have survived.

The highest point of popularity of Django came in 1945 , when jazz, a symbol of resistance to the invaders, became the music of liberation. The culmination was a recital with a transport aviation orchestra .

The end of the war was marked by the advent of a new fashion genre, bebop , and meant that new times were coming. Django Reinhardt found it difficult to adapt to them. Since 1946, he is increasingly left out of work. The joy of Liberation has passed, the era of swing is gradually dying. Django Club has closed.

In October 1946, Django went on a unique tour of his life in the United States with the Duke Ellington Orchestra . He did not manage to gain great fame there, although his “two-finger style” made a strong impression.

Upon returning to Paris, offers became increasingly rare. Due to a lack of offers, Django devotes more and more time to painting . “Don't tell me about music. Now I am engaged in painting, ”is his usual response to job offers.

In the early 1950s, Reinhardt moved his small family - Sophie "Nagin", his second wife, and son Babik (later also became a jazzman) - from Paris to the small town of Samua-on-Seine , south of the capital.

The Great Django died on May 16, 1953 from a stroke (according to another version - from a heart attack ): his health was irreversibly undermined by hungry wanderings in the days of the war.

In honor of Django Reinhardt, he named the international festival of gypsy jazz, held annually in New York , the Django web framework (not related to music), the Django music group and a number of music sites dedicated to the jazz manush movement.

• John Lewis ( Modern Jazz Quartet ) dedicated one of the most beautiful plays to Django Reinhardt, Django (recorded 1954), which became the jazz standard .
• Repeatedly mentioned in the movie Woody Allen's " Sweet and Despicable " (1999) with Sean Penn in the title role.
• Some works by Django Reinhardt are official soundtracks of games ( Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven , Mafia II , BioShock , BioShock 2 ) and films ( Aviator , Head in the Clouds , Chocolate ). Django La Mer's composition is found in the first episode of the Burial At Sea add-on for the BioShock Infinite game (it sounds from the gramophone in the music store at the very beginning of the game).
• British guitarist Tony Iommi , who had lost the pads on his middle and ring fingers due to an accident, wanted to end the music, but after listening to the recordings, Django decided not to do this.
• In the cartoon " Trio of Belleville " you can find a cartoon on Django.
• The British edition of Classic Rock has included Django on its list of the greatest guitarists of all time .
• Slade leader Noddy Holder named his son after a guitarist.
• Django is a free framework for web applications in the Python programming language . Named after the musician.
• In Dina Rubina ’s novel “ Parsley Syndrome ”, the protagonist dances a duet with a human-sized doll under “Minor Swing” by Django Reinhardt.
• Appears in the movie Gainsbourg. The love of a bully . "
• It is found in the movie Gattaka.
• In the movie "The Matrix" , when Neo comes to Pythia for the first time, the song Django Minor Swing played on the radio . In the third part, “ The Matrix: Revolution ”, when Neo comes to Pythia again, the no less famous song Django - Nuages plays on the radio
• In the game Mafia. The city of Lost Heaven in the city plays music written by Django Reinhard.
• In 2017, the French director Etienne Comarre released the biographical film "Django" about the life of a musician in the occupation. The film opened 67 Berlin film festival. The role of Django was played by Red Kateb. For adaptation by the Australian composer Warren Ellis, a replica of the Mass Requiem for Gypsy Brothers was written based on the first few chords and knowledge of the composition of the performers.

• Dregni, Michael. Django Reinhardt and the Illustrated History of Gypsy Jazz / Michael Dregni, Alain Antonietto, Anne Legrand. - Speck Press, 2006 .-- 211 p. - ISBN 978-1-933108-10-0 .

• Full discography
• Django Reinhard Fan Club
• Jazz manouche style forum
• Moscow ensemble DJANGOBAND
• Biography of Django Reinhardt in the Illustrated Biographical Encyclopedic Dictionary of Guitarists and Composers
• Biography of Django Reinhardt on the Planet of Jazz
• Django Reinhardt in the Red Hot Jazz Archive
• The official page of the Django Reinhardt Festival
• Djangopedia: A wiki for all Django's recordings with discography, charts, online audio and video
• Jazz Manouche - The Russian Gypsy Jazz Portal
• "Minor Swing." Authentic performance of the Saratov Jazz Orchestra Retro
• REINHARDT Jean Baptiste (Django) - Musicians, Composers and Guitarists: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary
• Central House of Knowledge - Tony Iommi Biography
• Stars of jazz. Django Reinhardt