Django Reinhardt – Life and Work
A towering figure in European jazz and guitar history, Django Reinhardt stands as the symbol of an enduring aesthetic movement that emerged in the post-war years and continues, healthily, to remain faithful to its roots.
Born in Belgium into a Paris-based Romani community, Django showed an early aptitude for music. Following in his father’s footsteps, he learned violin and later guitar. In 1920s Europe, three main Romani tribes or families could be identified, distinguished by their regions and trades. Django descended from the Manouche tribe, renowned for its artistic and creative gifts. His father, a circus clown with a good ear, also worked as a piano tuner.
Although his maternal lineage linked him to the Sinti tribe of Germany, his mother — an independent woman, dancer, and acrobat — never married Django’s father. As a result, he took her surname, Reinhardt.
The nomadic life of the Manouche people allowed Django to travel across much of Central Europe by caravan — Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany, England, and Italy — encountering a repertoire of traditional songs in settings akin to jam sessions, where artistic exchange happened in loco.
Django’s figure has always been shrouded in mystique, amplified by the uncertainty surrounding his origins and character. The cultural blend, itinerant lifestyle, and solitary spirit that defined him invite the imagination to see in him the embodiment of Manouche culture itself. More than that, Django grew into the iconic image of both a musical art form and an instrument. His music and persona became unifying symbols among the divided peoples of post–World War I Europe.
Yet nothing contributed more to the cult of Django than the tragedy that nearly ended his career — the fire that cost him two fingers on his left hand. At 18, Django’s caravan caught fire; it was loaded with celluloid flowers to be sold the next day. The cause remains unknown, but the outcome was severe. In trying to save his caravan, his livelihood, and his pregnant wife, he burned his left leg and arm. He narrowly escaped death and avoided amputation of his leg — but his ring and little fingers were permanently crippled.
From this tragedy, the legend of Django was born. He became a beacon of perseverance and determination for the Manouche community, for musicians everywhere, and for guitarists most of all.
Django’s Technique
His injury forced him to reinvent guitar technique, playing almost entirely with his index and middle fingers, using the others only for partial chord support. Here lay his first major innovation — condensing harmonic progressions into an exceptionally effective voice leading, often using drop 3 voicings. This led him to connect chord shapes through inversions and passing diminished forms.
Django’s harmony rarely used seventh chords or arpeggios. Instead, he favoured the minor sixth chord and its half-diminished inversion, enabling him to use a single voicing throughout much of a tune by adapting it tonally — for instance:
|| Am6 | D9/A | G6 || or || F#m7(b5)/A | B7(b13)/C | Em/B ||
His rhythmic accompaniment, known as “La Pompe”, became iconic — a fast, steady strumming style designed to emulate a big-band drummer hitting every beat on the bass drum and accenting beats 2 and 4 on the hi-hat.
Although to modern ears La Pompe may seem repetitive, it demands enormous physical and mental precision and is revered among gypsy jazz players. Subtle stylistic variations depended on the performer and the musical context.
The “dry” version was played in quarter notes, dragging the pick on beats 1 and 3 and sharply striking beats 2 and 4. The “standard” faster Pompe employed a lighter, alternating right-hand motion emphasizing eighth notes on 2 and 4. In ballads, longer pick strokes allowed the chords to ring.
Other versions — like the Tzigane Pompe, with bass notes on 1 and 3 and chords on 2 and 4 — created the illusion of two instruments in one. Later evolutions included Waltz Pompe in 3/4, Bossa Pompe, and Bolero Pompe. Ultimately, La Pompe is the heartbeat of Manouche jazz. Unlike American jazz, driven by a walking bass, this style derives its movement and swing from the rhythm guitars. Multiple guitars playing in unison reinforced the communal and celebratory spirit of the music.
Django often anchored the rhythm section but constantly introduced new rhythmic ideas, accents, and embellishments that added drama and excitement. His inventiveness and brilliance sometimes frustrated his brother Joseph, his lifelong accompanist, who felt overshadowed by Django’s charisma and fame — but Django’s magnetism was undeniable.
The Solos: Manouche Improvisation
Django’s popularity peaked with the formation of the Quintette du Hot Club de France — the first all-string jazz quintet, featuring two rhythm guitars, bass, Django’s lead guitar, and Stéphane Grappelli’s violin. Grappelli, a classically trained virtuoso who also played piano, was the only European musician of comparable stature to Django. Together, they composed pieces such as Ultrafox, Stompin’ at Decca, Swing de Paris, Hungaria, Tears, and Django’s Tiger, defining both the sound of the group and the Manouche aesthetic. Their signature piece, Minor Swing, remains the anthem of the genre.
Despite their close friendship, divergent upbringings led them down different paths — Grappelli remained in England while Django returned to France after a tour.
Django increasingly emerged as Europe’s leading jazz figure, mastering the guitar’s potential through a unique understanding of left-hand mapping, right-hand mechanics, and coordination patterns.
In an era when the electric guitar was still rare, Django exploited every nuance of the acoustic instrument — particularly the Selmer-Maccaferri guitars, which gained fame entirely thanks to him. The oval-holed models produced a cutting solo tone, while the D-hole versions offered a softer, rhythm-friendly sound. The brand’s factory closed the year after Django’s death.
His right hand floated freely, using a thick pick for a bright, percussive attack.
Influenced by French chanson, Romani tradition, and above all American big-band swing, Django collaborated with many major jazz figures — including Coleman Hawkins, Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, and Dizzy Gillespie. He remained loyal to swing, showing little interest in the emerging bebop style, which partly explains his disappointment with his long-awaited trip to the U.S., by then dominated by bebop.
To achieve his powerful tone, Django developed a down–up–down picking motion for precision and drive, adding syncopation through three-note groupings per string. He used open strings to insert chromatic tension spirals, and his technique relied primarily on right-hand control.
His left hand, limited to two active fingers, still achieved remarkable agility — favouring two-notes-per-string arpeggios, three-octave chromatic runs, and perfectly coordinated shifts. He frequently used enclosures, surrounding chord tones with neighbour notes — a device later popularised by bebop horn players.
Using minor-sixth-based harmony, he favoured modified pentatonic scales (raising the sixth degree) to create his characteristic ambiguous sound. Rapid vibrato endings, half-step bends, and chromatic thirds gave his lines expressiveness and bite.
Django also made extensive use of diminished scales, employing them over dominant, subdominant, and tonic minor chords alike — a hallmark of his tension–release phrasing.
Interestingly, Manouche improvisation is defined as much by what it omits as by what it includes. It avoids melodic and super-Locrian scales, drawing tension more from rhythmic emphasis than from theoretical devices. It is an intuitive, spontaneous art form rooted in feel rather than formal training.
Finally, Django’s use of chromatic thirds and octaves — techniques later made famous by Wes Montgomery — added further rhythmic and melodic power.
Django’s Legacy
Django Reinhardt is synonymous with gypsy jazz. Every device he discovered was learned orally, through intuition and experimentation. For over 80 years, these same tools have been passed from generation to generation. There is only one way to truly learn Manouche guitar — by listening to Django. Everything since stems from his foundation.
Today, his influence lives on in innovative yet tradition-conscious artists such as Bireli Lagrene, Stochelo Rosenberg, Dorado Schmitt, Angelo Debarre, Robin Nolan, Jimmy Rosenberg, Tchavolo Schmitt, Andreas Öberg, Joscho Stephan, Gonzalo Bergara, Lolo Meier, Frank Vignola, and many others — all celebrating Europe’s first true jazz guitar genius.
Django stands to the guitar as Miles Davis to the trumpet, Django to Manouche as Charlie Parker to bebop, and Django to European jazz as Jimi Hendrix to rock.
The best way to experience his mastery is through open, attentive listening — and what better place than the Django and Manouche festivals held throughout Europe.
See you in Samois!
Bibliography
Hal Leonard – Django Reinhardt: The Definitive Collection
www.GuitareJazzManouche.com
Andreas Öberg – Gypsy Fire
Django Reinhardt: Gypsy Guitar – The Legacy (1990, DVD)
Michael Horowitz – Django Uncompromised
Michael Horowitz – Gypsy Picking
Michael Dregni – In Search of Django Reinhardt and the Soul of Gypsy Swing