Short Biography of Django Reinhardt
The Hardships and Upcoming of Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt once said “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.” Reinhardt had worked very, very hard to get to the peak of his career. His life was like a story in the genre of “Rags to Riches” because he wasn’t born with the best of beginnings, but he still accomplished the impossible and became the first important European jazz musician, still known by musicians today.
Django was born, as “Jean Reinhardt” in Liberchies, Pont-à-Celles, Belgium on January 23rd 1910, into a poor family. His father is Jean Eugene Weiss (also goes by the alias of Jean-Baptiste Reinhardt) and his mother is Laurence Reinhardt. Django in Romani language means “to awake.” In his early childhood Jean lived in Romani (Gypsy) encampments close to Paris.
He was also very attracted to music at an early age. A funny fact is that his first instrument was that he actually played the violin first despite that he’ll become best-known for the guitar. He received his first “guitar” as a gift when he was twelve years old, specifically it was a banjo-guitar. He quickly learned how to play without any tutoring; Django learned through watching other musicians play and copying their fingerings. At the age of thirteen he was able to make a living off of playing music, but the consequence for that was that he received very little education and he only learned reading and writing in his adult life.
When he was 18 there was a fire that injured him. His right leg, fourth and fifth fingers were paralyzed because of this, and even though two of his most important fingers were paralyzed he still sought out to relearn the way of the guitar with only 2 fingers.
He discovered jazz and traded his banjo-guitar in for a Selmer Guitar between 1929 and 1933. Between 1934 and the start of World War 2 (1939), Django toured the United
Django Reinhardt once said “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.” Reinhardt had worked very, very hard to get to the peak of his career. His life was like a story in the genre of “Rags to Riches” because he wasn’t born with the best of beginnings, but he still accomplished the impossible and became the first important European jazz musician, still known by musicians today.
Django was born, as “Jean Reinhardt” in Liberchies, Pont-à-Celles, Belgium on January 23rd 1910, into a poor family. His father is Jean Eugene Weiss (also goes by the alias of Jean-Baptiste Reinhardt) and his mother is Laurence Reinhardt. Django in Romani language means “to awake.” In his early childhood Jean lived in Romani (Gypsy) encampments close to Paris.
He was also very attracted to music at an early age. A funny fact is that his first instrument was that he actually played the violin first despite that he’ll become best-known for the guitar. He received his first “guitar” as a gift when he was twelve years old, specifically it was a banjo-guitar. He quickly learned how to play without any tutoring; Django learned through watching other musicians play and copying their fingerings. At the age of thirteen he was able to make a living off of playing music, but the consequence for that was that he received very little education and he only learned reading and writing in his adult life.
When he was 18 there was a fire that injured him. His right leg, fourth and fifth fingers were paralyzed because of this, and even though two of his most important fingers were paralyzed he still sought out to relearn the way of the guitar with only 2 fingers.
He discovered jazz and traded his banjo-guitar in for a Selmer Guitar between 1929 and 1933. Between 1934 and the start of World War 2 (1939), Django toured the United