Django — Amazon

Jean Baptiste Reinhardt

(b. 23 January 1910, Liberchies, Belgium,  d. 16 May 1953)

Following serious injuries which he suffered in a caravan fire in 1928 he lost the use of two fingers on his left hand. To overcome this handicap, he devised a unique method of fingering and soon embarked on a solo career in Parisian clubs.  His remarkable playing caused a sensation and it is not an exaggeration to state that he was the first non-American to make an impact upon jazz and become an important influence upon the development of the music.  Reinhardt died of a brain hemorrhage in 1953.