Django Reinhardt

Django Reinhardt was the first major jazz musician to emerge from Europe, and he is still considered one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time .

This is despite the fact that he played without the use of the third and fourth fingers on his left hand after they were badly damaged in a caravan fire while he was still a teenager.

Reinhardt was born into a Manouche Romani family in Liberchies, Belgium 1910.

After developing an interest in jazz and listening to American stars like Louis Armstrong, he formed the Quintette du Hot Club de France, which he fronted with the violinist Stéphane Grapelli.

Django was the leader of the Jazz Manouche style that originated in Paris, France, in the 1930s. It is typically played by a small-group jazz ensemble and shares some characteristics and influences with other styles of jazz, like swing and bebop, but retains its own distinctive sound, repertoire, instrumentation and subculture.