Appreciation…

… The Incomparable Django - Commentary. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Philip Larkin, a staunch admirer, described him as “fond of gambling, too proud to carry his guitar, and almost entirely unreliable.”

The only thing about Reinhardt on which it was possible to rely was his iron determination to play the guitar as well as it could be played. A child prodigy who started performing at the age of 12, he permanently damaged the fourth and fifth fingers of his left hand in a 1928 fire. This forced him to reconstruct his technique from scratch, which he did with awe-inspiring completeness.