After a series of informal jam sessions at the Hotel Claridge, concert promoters Pierre Nourry and Charles Delaunay (leaders of the "Hot Club de France", a society chaired by Hugues Panassié devoted to the appreciation of jazz) urged the formation of a permanent group.
Grappelli and Reinhardt maintained active schedules as freelance musicians during the early years of the Quintette, recording and performing with French pop artists such as Jean Sablon, Le Petit Mirsha, and Nane Cholet, and with jazz artists such as Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, Rex Stewart, Larry Adler, Alix Combelle, and André Ekyan.
Between 1934 and 1948, the Quintette du Hot Club de France recorded more than 130 titles in the studio for the Decca, Swing, HMV, Ultraphone, and Odeon labels.
In 1937, the American jazz singer Adelaide Hall opened a nightclub in Montmartre along with her husband Bert Hicks and called it 'La Grosse Pomme'.
By the late 1940s, Grappelli's style of violin swing was out of fashion, and Django, no longer performing regularly, had become interested in playing modern jazz inspired by American bebop musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie.
Simultaneously, a revival of the Quintette's sound by a younger generation of artists was underway, with musicians like Fapy Lafertin, Raphaël Faÿs, and Biréli Lagrène helping to establish the Gypsy jazz subgenre as a popular style worldwide.