Jazz Musicians and Their Disabilities: Django Reinhardt, Les Paul, and Michel Petrucciani

Abstract

Musicians with physical disabilities who achieved stardom are part of the lore of popular music. Guitarist Django Reinhardt contrived alternate fingering patterns necessitated by burn contractures of his left hand. Les Paul, a legend in the development of the solid body electric guitar and multitrack recording, mangled his right arm in a car wreck so severely that his elbow was set permanently at 90° so he could continue to play guitar. Michel Petrucciani suffered from osteogenesis imperfecta, a condition that stunted his growth to the point where he used a special attachment to reach the sustaining pedals of his piano. Their stories show the force of human genius in music.