Django : the life and music of a Gypsy legend

"Now, in Django, Michael Dregni offers a definitive portrait of this great guitarist. Handsome, charismatic, childlike, and unpredictable, Reinhardt was a character out of a picaresque novel. Born in a Gypsy caravan at a crossroads in Belgium, he was almost killed in a freak fire that burned half of his body and left his left hand twisted into a claw. But with this maimed left hand flying over the frets and his right hand plucking at dizzying speed, Django became Europe's most famous jazz musician, commanding exorbitant fees - and spending the money as fast as he made it. Dregni not only chronicles this remarkably colorful life - including a fascinating account of gypsy culture - but he also sheds much light on Django's musicianship.

He examines his long musical partnership with violinist Stephane Grappelli - the one sharp and dissonant, the other suave and smooth - and he traces the evolution of their novel string jazz ensemble, Quintette du Hot Club de France. Indeed, the author spotlights Django's amazing musical diversity, describing his swing-styled Nouveau Quintette, his big band Django's Music, and his later bebop ensemble, as well as his many compositions, including symphonic pieces influenced by Ravel and Debussy and his unfinished organ Mass inspired by Bach.

And along the way, the author offers vivid snapshots of the jazz scene in Paris - colorful portraits of Josephine Baker, Bricktop, Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, and countless others - and of Django's vagabond wanderings around France, Europe, and the United States, where he toured with Duke Ellington."--BOOK JACKET.