In 1931 the painter Emile Savitry let him hear the records of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, and Django decided to look out for French jazz musicians. He could use them on the first two strings of the guitar for chords and octaves but complete extension of these fingers was impossible. His fourth and fifth digits of the left hand were permanently curled towards the palm due to the tendons shrinking from the heat of the fire. He created a whole new fingering system built around the two fingers on his left hand that had full mobility. With rehabilitation and practice he relearned his craft in a completely new way. His brother Joseph bought Django a new guitar. A doctor intended to amputate his leg, but Reinhardt refused to have the surgery and was bedridden for eighteen months. Somehow he and his wife made it across the blazing room to safety outside, but his right leg was paralyzed and the third and fourth fingers of his left hand were badly burned. The wick from the candle fell into the highly flammable celluloid flowers and the caravan was transformed into a raging inferno. Upon hearing a mouse among the flowers, he bent down with a candle to look. At one o'clock in the morning Django returned from a performance at the club La Java. The caravan was filled with celluloid flowers his wife had made to sell at the market on the following day. That year, the 18 year old Reinhardt was injured in a fire that ravaged the caravan he shared with Florine ‘Bella’ Mayer, his first wife. His first known recordings (in 1928) were of him playing the banjo with accordionist Jean Vaissade for the Ideal Company. From the age of 12 he played professionally at Bal-musette halls in Paris. Reinhardt's nickname ‘Django’ is Romani for ‘I awake.’ There he started with playing the violin and eventually moved on to a banjo-guitar that a neighbour had given him. From the age of 8, he lived with his mother in Romani (Gypsy) settlements close to Paris. He was the son of a travelling entertainer and the brother of guitarist Joseph Reinhardt. Jean Baptiste Reinhardt was born into a troupe of gypsies in Liberchies, Belgium, in 1910. Django has been portrayed in several films, even as a cartoon character, and his music graces soundtracks of many films, especially those of Woody Allen. He performed with such greats as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and also had his own band, the Quintette du Hot Club de France, which he had cofounded with violinist Stéphane Grappelli. His fret hand was severely burned and disfigured and caused his unique style of playing. Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt (1910 - 1953) was one of the first prominent European jazz musicians. French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no.
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