06-16-2015, 12:18 AM
"The Accident
"By far the most astonishing guitar player ever has got to be Django Reinhardt ... Django was quite superhuman, there's nothing normal about him as a person or a player..." - Jeff Beck
Django's career came to a screaming halt on November 2, 1928, when he was 18 years old. Due to an accident, Django ignited a fire ball that engulfed the trailer house where he and his first wife Florine "Bella" Mayer lived. Florine made and sold imitation flowers with paper and celluloid, both highly flammable. Returning from a gig, Django knocked over a candle and the fire quickly spread...
WIth the help from neighbors and family, they both barely scrambled to safety. Django was seriously burned, his right leg was paralyzed and the third and fourth fingers of his left hand severely damaged.
It was during his period of convalescence that he again demonstrated man's propensity for perseverance against all odds. With his third and fourth digits badly mangled by the burns, shrinking the tendons, he could only use his first two fingers to fret notes, while his burnt fingers were barely able to fret notes on the first two strings only.
It was during this long recovery period that Django's sheer will power and determination, motivated him to configure an entirely new fingering system in order for him to play with facility as he did before, but only with two fingers freed up for single line soloing.
To the amazement of all, he persevered and came out stronger and better than ever, especially after hearing Louis Armstrong's "Dallas Blues" on an old 78 record. Soon after the accident he discovered jazz and strove to find as many records of Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti as he could. Eddie Lang's style figures prominently in Django's free swinging yet melodic lines."
- See more at: http://www.jazzguitar.be/django_reinhar ... EIynq.dpuf
"By far the most astonishing guitar player ever has got to be Django Reinhardt ... Django was quite superhuman, there's nothing normal about him as a person or a player..." - Jeff Beck
Django's career came to a screaming halt on November 2, 1928, when he was 18 years old. Due to an accident, Django ignited a fire ball that engulfed the trailer house where he and his first wife Florine "Bella" Mayer lived. Florine made and sold imitation flowers with paper and celluloid, both highly flammable. Returning from a gig, Django knocked over a candle and the fire quickly spread...
WIth the help from neighbors and family, they both barely scrambled to safety. Django was seriously burned, his right leg was paralyzed and the third and fourth fingers of his left hand severely damaged.
It was during his period of convalescence that he again demonstrated man's propensity for perseverance against all odds. With his third and fourth digits badly mangled by the burns, shrinking the tendons, he could only use his first two fingers to fret notes, while his burnt fingers were barely able to fret notes on the first two strings only.
It was during this long recovery period that Django's sheer will power and determination, motivated him to configure an entirely new fingering system in order for him to play with facility as he did before, but only with two fingers freed up for single line soloing.
To the amazement of all, he persevered and came out stronger and better than ever, especially after hearing Louis Armstrong's "Dallas Blues" on an old 78 record. Soon after the accident he discovered jazz and strove to find as many records of Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti as he could. Eddie Lang's style figures prominently in Django's free swinging yet melodic lines."
- See more at: http://www.jazzguitar.be/django_reinhar ... EIynq.dpuf