Happy Birthday, Django Reinhardt, Jazz Guitar Pioneer

January 23, 2009
by Christopher Coats
Born into a vagabond life on the outskirts of Paris in 1910, Django Reinhardt took on the fledgling world of jazz and reimagined it through his gypsy roots, bringing the guitar to the fore and changing the perception of the instrument forever.

Early Days
Given his first instrument, a banjo, at the age of 12, Reinhardt began performing immediately, teaming with an accordion player named Guerino and his brother Joseph to play small bars, clubs and dance halls across Paris throughout his teens.

However, it was not until disaster struck at the age of 18 that he became the Django Reinhardt that history remembers today. Returning home to the carriage he lived in with his wife, Reinhardt mistakenly touched his candle to a collection of cellophane flowers his wife had made to sell, igniting their home in seconds.
Both escaped the fire, but not before the young musician’s left hand and side were burned severely. Refusing orders of amputation from doctors, Reinhardt instead set out to make the most of what movement he still had.

Left with the tendons of his fourth and fifth digits curled toward his hand by the fire, Reinhardt developed a new way of playing that would only require two fingers.
Making his return to performing just months after the fire, Reinhardt blew audiences away with quick-fingered solos that sounded like a Spanish flamenco treatment of modern jazz.
Further, Reinhardt moved the guitar out of the shadows of performing and into the spotlight for the first time. Whereas before, the guitar was usually reserved for providing a rhythm section and little more, Reinhardt co-opted parts usually reserved for violins and saxophones.

Although he still used his ring and pinky fingers, their inability to extend kept them still, reserved for lower strings and unable to be used in solos.
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/features/profiles/r/django-reinhardt.html