Although born into a gypsy family, and, at first trained largely by professionally performing gypsy musicians, Reinhardt was quick to explore and use several traditions in his music. His associates became the jazz musicians of France and America, and the classically trained violinist Stephane Grappelli, with whom he founded the Quintette du Hot Club, originally including one of Django's brothers.
His recordings of American Jazz standards in European form with the group, and his own inventive compositions, brought him a wide audience.

He can be called a folk musician only to the extent that he sometimes incorporated melodies of folk type, much as Bach (in his secular cantatas) and other musicians have done throughout time. He experimented with symphonic arrangements, most notably in "Manoir de Mes Rives."