Legend of Django Reinhardt (full story)

This is full story of legendary French (born in Belgium) Gypsy guitarist, composer and painter, Jean "Django" Reinhardt (1910 – 1953), one of the most influential jazz guitar players of all time.
Reinhardt grew up in a gypsy camp near Paris. A caravan fire in 1928 badly burned his left hand, depriving him of the use of the fourth and fifth fingers. It took almost 2 years to cure his hand and later to develope entirely new style of jazz guitar technique.
Fascinated with American jazz soon Reinhardt co-founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France together with violinist Stéphane Grappelli. When World War II broke out the Quintet was touring in UK. Reinhardt returned Paris while Grappelli remained in the United Kingdom for the duration of the war. Hubert Rostaing on clarinet replaced Grappelli's violin. Reinhardt survived the war despite the Nazi regime's systematic murder of several hundred thousand European Gypsies. After the war In 1946, Reinhardt took up the electric guitar and toured America as a soloist with the Duke Ellington bigband.
After returning to France in 1946, Reinhardt left Paris and to live in Gypsy camp having difficulties to adjust to the modern world. He held several sporadic reunions with Stephane Grapelli. In 1949 Reinhardt with three Italian jazz players recorded his final (double) album, "Djangology".

The spirit and sound of Django Reinhardt has been cultivated by his sons and many following bands and guitarists like Holland's Rosenberg Trio and Bireli Lagrene.