| Our
Music - for those
that don't know, our music is 'gypsy jazz' which originates from the style of Django
Reinhardt - the
first hugely influential jazz figure to emerge from Europe -- and he
remains the most influential European to this day. A violinist first and a
guitarist later, Jean Baptiste "Django" Reinhardt grew up in a
gypsy camp near Paris where he absorbed the gypsy strain into his music. A
disastrous caravan fire in 1928 badly burned his left hand, depriving him
of the use of the fourth and fifth fingers, but the resourceful Reinhardt
figured out a novel fingering system to get around the problem that
probably accounts for some of the originality of his style. He then
resumed his career playing in Parisian cafes until one day in 1934 when The
Quintet of the Hot Club of France was
born featuring Stephane
Grapelli on
Violin. They quickly became an international draw thanks to a long,
splendid series of Ultraphone, Decca and HMV recordings. |
