Jean-Jacques "Babik" Reinhardt (8 June 1944 – 13 November 2001) was a French guitarist and the younger son of gypsy jazz guitarist

Django Reinhardt Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Romani-French jazz guitarist and composer. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one of its most ...

by Django's second wife, Naguine. His elder half-brother Lousson, who was Django's son by his first wife, Bella, was also a guitarist, but the two grew up in different families and rarely met. He was christened Jean-Jacques but generally known by his family nickname, Babik.

Biography

Babik Reinhardt was born in Paris. He learned guitar not from his father, who died when he was nine years old, but from his uncles such as Nin-Nin (Joseph) and Eugène Vées,Dregni, Michael, 2008. Gypsy Jazz: in search of Django Reinhardt and the soul of Gypsy Swing. Oxford University Press. as well others of his own generation such as Vées' sons Loulou and Mitsou. According to writer Fred Sharp, his father had initially encouraged him to take up the piano, believing that "there would be more work for a pianist than a guitarist".Fred Sharp (1998/2001)
Babik Reinhardt
www.hotclub.co.uk At age 15 he appeared in Jean-Christophe Averty's 1959 film "Hommage a Django Reinhardt", playing rhythm acoustic guitar behind Eugène Vées,

Joseph Reinhardt Joseph "Nin-Nin" Reinhardt (1912-1982) was the younger brother of guitarist Django Reinhardt and played rhythm guitar on most of Django's pre-war recordings, especially those with the Quintette du Hot Club de France between 1934 and 1939. He was ...

Stéphane Grappelli Stéphane Grappelli (; 26 January 1908 – 1 December 1997, born Stefano Grappelli) was a French jazz violinist. He is best known as a founder of the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the firs ...

, etc. By age 18 he was playing electric guitar with the French rock and roll group "Glenn Jack et ses Glenners", led by Glen Jack (real name Jacques Vérières), appearing on several of their EP releases in 1962. Babik's first jazz recordings were made in 1967 with the organist George Arvanitis, with four tracks released as an EP "Swing 67" (including 2 Babik originals and 2 compositions of his father) in 1967. From 1968 onwards, Babik started releasing albums in his own name, commencing with a set of tunes by

Sidney Bechet Sidney Bechet (May 14, 1897 – May 14, 1959) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was one of the first important soloists in jazz, and first recorded several months before trumpeter Louis Armstrong. His erratic temp ...

played on electric (Gibson ES-175) guitar with a small group. A 1973 album "Sinti Houn Brazil" included three lengthy original compositions, in more of a

bossa nova Bossa nova () is a style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a "different beat" that altered the harmonies with the introduction of unconventional chords and an innovativ ...

style, while a 1974 release, "Sur Le Chemin De Mon Pere...Django" comprised mostly compositions by his father, but played in a mainstream electric style. "Three Of A Kind" (1975) was a collaboration with the gypsy guitarists

Christian Escoudé Christian Escoudé (born 1947) is a French Gypsy jazz guitarist. He grew up in Angoulême and is of Romani descent on his father's side. His father was also a guitarist who was influenced by Django Reinhardt. When Escoudé was ten, his father b ...

and

Boulou Ferré Boulou Ferré (born Jean-Jacques Ferret, 24 April 1951) is a French virtuoso jazz guitarist, composer, arranger, and improviser. He is the brother of Elios Ferré, also a jazz musician, with whom he has recorded widely. His repertoire includes ja ...

in a contemporary jazz style, and included a 5-minute medley of Django Reinhardt compositions. This was followed by additional albums "All Love" and others through the 1980s and 1990s, all in a mainstream/contemporary jazz style; he also appeared (sharing lead duties with

Romane Patrick Leguidecoq, known professionally as Romane, is a guitarist born in Paris, France in 1959 who specializes in gypsy jazz. Life and work Although not a gypsy by birth, Romane benefited from interactions with gypsy guitar players from an early ...

) playing electric (hollow body) guitar on the 1998 album released under the name "New Quintet Du Hot Club De France", playing material including four Django compositions plus three of his own originals in a lightly swinging, modern update of the original hot club style. In the 1990s, Babik arranged and/or contributed the music for two French films, "Le Prix Du Silence" (1990) directed by Jacques Ertaud, and "Mohammad Bertrand Duval" by Alex Métayer (1991).http://www.djangostation.com
Babik Reinhardt
(French site) Drawn more to

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...

than

gypsy jazz Gypsy jazz (also known as gypsy swing, jazz manouche or hot club-style jazz) is a style of small-group jazz originating from the Romani guitarist Jean "Django" Reinhardt (1910–53), in conjunction with the French swing violinist Stéphane Gr ...

, Babik recorded with fusion pioneer

Larry Coryell Larry Coryell (born Lorenz Albert Van DeLinder III; April 2, 1943 – February 19, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist. Early life Larry Coryell was born in Galveston, Texas, United States. He never knew his biological father, a musician. He w ...

and French violinist

Didier Lockwood Didier Lockwood (11 February 1956 – 18 February 2018) was a French violinist. He played in the French rock band Magma in the 1970s, and was known for his use of electric amplification and his experimentation with different sounds on the electri ...

in the 1990s. Babik visited the USA to perform on several occasions, his last appearance being at Birdland in New York City in 2000. In 2001, he died of a heart attack at the age of 57 in

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

, France. Babik and his wife Nadine's son, David Reinhardt, Django's grandson (born 1986), is also a performer in the gypsy jazz style and was tutored by his father from the age of six. One track from Babik appeared posthumously on the album ''Generation Django'' ( Dreyfus, 2009), a tribute to his father recorded by multiple musicians, including Babik's son, David, and

Biréli Lagrène Biréli Lagrène (born 4 September 1966) is a French jazz guitarist who came to prominence in the 1980s for his Django Reinhardt–influenced style. He often performs in swing, jazz fusion, and post-bop styles. Biography Lagrène was born in So ...

Discography

* Glenn Jack Et Ses Glenners Avec Babik Django Reinhardt: ''Moi, Je Pense Encore À Toi'' (EP, Festival, 1962) * Glenn Jack Et Ses Glenners Avec Babik "Django" Reinhardt: ''Jenny'' (EP, Festival, 1962) * ''Swing 67'' (EP, Vogue, 1967) * ''Joue Sidney Bechet'' (Vogue, 1968) * ''Sinti Houn Brazil'' (CBS, 1973) * ''Sur Le Chemin De Mon Pere...Django'' (Music for Pleasure, 1974) * Christian Escoudé, Boulou Ferré & Babik Reinhardt: ''Three of A Kind'' (JMS, 1985) * ''All Love'' (RDC, 1988) * ''Nuances'' (RDC, 1992) * ''Vibration'' (RDC, 1995) * ''Live'' (1996) * ''A Night in Conover'' (RDC, 1998) * Various artists: ''Django Reinhardt NY Festival: Live at Birdland'' (Atlantic, 2001) - 2 tracks only * Various artists: ''Swing Gitan'' (Vertical Jazz, 2003?) - live recording from the 2002 Django Reinhardt NY Festival at Birdland - one track featuring Babik from the 2000 festival is included as a bonus track * ''Babik Joue Django'' (RDC, 2003) (?compilation)

Films

* 1959 ''Hommage a Django Reinhardt'' (playing rhythm guitar with Eugène Vées, Joseph Reinhardt, Stéphane Grappelli, etc.) * 1991 John Jeremy film ''The Django Legacy'' (1 track only) * 1995 ''Django: A Jazz Tribute'',

and Babik Reinhardt live duets (re-released 2005, DVD)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reinhardt, Babik 1944 births 2001 deaths 20th-century guitarists 21st-century guitarists Continental jazz guitarists French jazz guitarists French male guitarists French Romani people Romani guitarists Gypsy jazz musicians Swing guitarists 20th-century French musicians 20th-century French male musicians 21st-century French male musicians French male jazz musicians