Django Reinhardt

Django Reinhardt (Jean Reinhardt, 1910–1953) was a Belgian-born Romani jazz guitarist widely regarded as the first major jazz improviser to emerge from Europe. A caravan fire in 1928 severely damaged his left hand, leaving him with only two fully functional fingers on his fretting hand; he developed an entirely new technique foundational to jazz guitar. With violinist Stéphane Grappelli, he co-founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France in 1934, creating a distinctive acoustic jazz style rooted in the European string tradition. His improvisational fluency established a vocabulary that continues to define gypsy jazz and extends into virtually every style of jazz guitar.