Django Reinhardt

Romani-Belgian /French jazz musician (1910–1953)

Audience59K
Fame72.6
Momentum0.0

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59K youtube followers

Audience59K
Fame72.6
Momentum0.0
Wikipedia45.4K

Lived 1910–1953, aged 43France

France MusiciansSinger / Musician

Biggest on YouTube
59K
@@djangoreinhardttv
Wikipedia
63 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1910–1953
Aged 43
Known for
Stage Door Canteen
1943

Summary

Updated 2026-06-21

He played jazz guitar with two working fingers on his fretting hand — the result of a caravan fire at eighteen — and became the first European musician to shape the American art form on equal terms.

Biography

About

Jean "Django" Reinhardt was born into a Romani family in Belgium in 1910 and spent most of his life in France. In 1934, he formed the Quintette du Hot Club de France with violinist Stéphane Grappelli, among the first groups to feature guitar as a lead jazz instrument. He recorded in France with visiting Americans like Coleman Hawkins and Benny Carter, and briefly toured the United States with Duke Ellington's orchestra in 1946. His compositions — "Minor Swing", "Nuages", "Djangology", "Swing '42" — became standards within gypsy jazz, and nearly every major popular guitarist since has drawn fro…

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