The Les Paul exhibit in the Mahwah Museum, 201 Franklin Turnpike, has on display a very rare guitar which was once owned by Django Reinhardt. The Museum is open weekends and Wednesdays from 1-4 p.m. Admission to the Museum is $5 for non-members, members and children are free.
Innovative musician and composer Jean “Django” Reinhardt, known as the first great European jazz guitarist, was the primary force behind the intense, emotional and lyrical “gypsy jazz” style. Reinhardt, who played with the use of only his index and middle fingers on his left hand, is widely admired and has become an inspiration to many well known musicians. Les Paul and Mary Ford visited Django in Paris in 1952. After his death in 1953 at age 43, Django’s son Babik gifted Les with Django’s 1950 Selmer Orchestra Model acoustic guitar in gratitude for Les’s kindness to Django’s family. This guitar was treasured by Les, who kept it in his private collection.
Other exhibits at the Mahwah Museum are The Donald Cooper Railroad and “Neighborhoods of Mahwah: 1913-2013.” On Sunday, October 20, at 3:00 p.m., museum trustee John Edwards will present a gallery talk on the neighborhood of East Mahwah, which includes Cragmere, Applewood, Franklin Commons and the business district along Franklin Turnpike. Admission to the gallery talk is $3. Contact lectures@mahwahmuseum.org to reserve.
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Visit www.mahwahmuseum.org or call 201-512-0099 for more information and for a schedule of upcoming lectures and gallery talks.
The Mahwah Museum receives operating support from The NJ Historical Commission, Department of State.
