The early part of 2010 sees a special festival at London restaurant Le QuecumBar in Battersea to coincide with the centenary of Django Reinhardt’s birth. The bar, which also doubles as the capital’s shrine to gypsy jazz will host the event from 17-25 Jan with a series of concerts and workshops under the banner of the International Gypsy Swing Guitar Festival which comes to a close just two days after Django’s birth in Belgium 100 years ago.

The guitarist, still regarded as one of the greatest ever jazz musicians of European origin, began his musical career as a child on violin, only taking up the guitar-banjo in his early teens before being forced to alter his guitar playing technique after losing two fingers in a caravan fire.

To many his music became the soundtrack of Paris in the 1930s particularly in tandem with Stéphane Grappelli and the Quintet of the Hot Club of France but Reinhardt’s legend also spread to the US even if his touring there with Duke Ellington was deemed a relative artistic failure. Today his legacy is secure and many of today’s major players such as leading UK Django disciple Martin Taylor owe him a considerable debt, while film makers such as Woody Allen have used him as an inspiration with the American director affectionately choosing his hero in Sweet and Lowdown (played by Sean Penn) as the world’s second best gypsy guitar player (after of course Django).

Sylvia Rushbrooke, owner of Le QuecumBar, one of the festival organisers says: “The festival line-up represents not just traditional Hot Club gypsy jazz, but the way others have fused it with their own styles. By presenting modern interpretations we can demonstrate just how resilient and enduring the appeal of this genre is.” The festival is bookended by Django’s guitar-playing grandson David Reinhardt and Sebastien Giniaux opening and closes with Ritary Gaguenetti, Lollo Meier and Stochelo Rosenberg.

– Stephen Graham

For more go to www.quecumbar.co.uk

Pictured: Django Reinhardt