Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli

A legendary Romani-French guitarist, Django Reinhardt was the first hugely influential jazz figure to emerge from Europe and the person most credited with developing the style known as gypsy jazz, jazz manouche, or hot club jazz. Reinhardt came up with a unique way of propelling the acoustic guitar into the front line of a jazz combo in the days before amplification became widespread. He would spin joyous, arcing, marvelously inflected solos above the thrumming groundwork of two rhythm guitars and a bass, with cohort Stephane Grappelli's elegantly gliding violin serving as the...