Editing Django Reinhardt (section)

=== Discovery of jazz ===
After parting from his wife and son, Reinhardt traveled throughout France, getting occasional jobs playing music at small clubs. He had no specific goals, living a hand-to-mouth existence, spending his earnings as quickly as he made them.<ref name=Fogg />{{rp|11}} Accompanying him on his travels was his new girlfriend, Sophie Ziegler. Nicknamed "Naguine", she was a distant cousin.<ref name=Fogg />{{rp|11}}

In the years after the fire, Reinhardt was rehabilitating and experimenting on the guitar that his brother had given him. After having played a broad spectrum of music, he was introduced to American jazz by an acquaintance, [[Émile Savitry]], whose record collection included such musical luminaries as [[Louis Armstrong]], [[Duke Ellington]], [[Joe Venuti]], [[Eddie Lang]], and [[Lonnie Johnson (musician)|Lonnie Johnson]]. (The [[Swing music|swinging sound]] of Venuti's jazz violin and Eddie Lang's virtuoso guitar-playing anticipated the more famous sound of Reinhardt and Grappelli's later ensemble.) Hearing their music triggered in Reinhardt a vision and goal of becoming a jazz professional.<ref name=Fogg />{{rp|12}}

While developing his interest in jazz, Reinhardt met [[Stéphane Grappelli]], a young violinist with similar musical interests. In 1928, Grappelli had been a member of the orchestra at the Ambassador Hotel while bandleader [[Paul Whiteman]] and Joe Venuti were performing there.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dregni |first1=Michael |title=Django: The Life and Music of a Gypsy Legend |date=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195167528 |page=86 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3t8SLVloJjsC&pg=PA86 |access-date=17 July 2022}}</ref> In early 1934 both Reinhardt and Grappelli were members of [[Louis Vola]]'s band.<ref name=Delaunay />{{rp|66}}