Django Reinhardt

Jeff

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During a discussion of proper fingering with my instructor he mentioned Django played many of his solos with just two fingers on his left hand.

Darned if it isn't so.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMLzK_w6ZeM

[img:130:97]http://img.youtube.com/vi/AEzsPGHsi90/2.jpg[/img]
 

Graham

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I've been interested in Django for a little while now, wanting to play jazz and all. He had no choice if he wanted to continue playing guitar, his hand was severley burned in a fire and left him just two "working" fingers so he created a fingering system using his middle and index fingers.

He makes it look effortless, doesn't he? :shock:

I still have trouble with a Bm.
 

jp

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Yeah Jeff,

Listening to his recordings, one can hear how he had to adapt his style to his situation, especially those quickly strummed glissandos up and down the ncek in between riffs. I would almost hazard the statement that his handicap helped create his distinctive style. I'm a huge fan of early swing music and Django's one of my faves.

Check out the parody of Django (and others) in this opening sequence from the animated film The Triplets of Belleville.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-NZE17hvt0
 

john_kidder

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Well, I'll be damned. I've seen the film twice, and enjoyed it immensely. Loved the music all the way through. Being Canadian I recognized the caricature of Glenn Gould playing Bach at the end of that YouTube clip, but I missed altogether the two-fingered cigarette-smoking guitar player, no other than Django Reinhardt.

Thanks - in the middle of a fairly lousy day, a respite. I'm going to rent the film for my wife and I tonight.

From How It Happened
  • On November 2nd, 1928 an event took place that would forever change Django's life. At one o'clock in the morning the 18 year old Django returned from a night of playing music at a new club "La Java" to the caravan that was now the home of himself and his new wife. The caravan was filled with celluloid flowers his wife had made to sell at the market on the following day. Django upon hearing what he thought was a mouse among the flowers bent down with a candle to look. The wick from the candle fell into the highly flammable celluloid flowers and the caravan was almost instantly transformed into a raging inferno. Django wrapped himself in a blanket to shield him from the flames. Somehow he and his wife made it across the blazing room to safety outside, but his left hand, and his right side from knee to waist were badly burned.

    Initially doctors wanted to amputate his leg but Django refused. He was moved to a nursing home where the care was so good his leg was saved. Django was bedridden for eighteen months. During this time he was given a guitar, and with great determination Django created a whole new fingering system built around the two fingers on his left hand that had full mobility. His fourth and fifth digits of the left hand were permanently curled towards the palm due to the tendons shrinking from the heat of the fire. He could use them on the first two strings of the guitar for chords and octaves but complete extension of these fingers was impossible. His soloing was all done with the index and middle fingers! Film clips of Django show his technique to be graceful and precise, almost defying belief.
 

jp

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All the caricatures are pretty interesting in that movie. The part with Glenn Gould even shows his beloved chair!
 

jp

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What's also really fun is the early small combo swing stuff with Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang. They're the ones whom Django tried to emulate. Much of the material has vocals too, especially by the great trombonist Jack Teagarden. I love this era of music between Louis Armstrong and big band.

A lot of it also sounds like the music one hears in old cartoons where the fridge opens up at night and all the condiments come dancing out. :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql3eF8cpNVs
 

capnjuan

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Caramba JP! Dancing condiments...

The clip opens like a Jimmy Cagney movie; bunch of low-lifes sittin' and sinnin'; smokes, drinkin', and gambling...one guy puts his weed on the furniture...no wonder so many vintage amps have cig burns...

And then they all break into music...like one of those Gene Autrey movies where the Sons of the Pioneers break into Tumbling Tumbleweed for no apparent reason....

And your'e spot on; all those 1930s/1940s cartoons; carried over from the theaters to early TV...the dancing condiments....the cats out back on the fence howling in sync...Felix the Cat standing on a stool at the stove in front of a boiling pot of water dipping a bean on a string in and out to make bean soup....
 

coastie99

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jp said:
What's also really fun is the early small combo swing stuff with Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang.

Didn't Eddie Lang perform with a significant Bluesman at some stage ?

Lonnie Johnson ?

Comment from somebody please ?

And if you've never heard of Lonnie Johnson, go find him !
 
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