Biréli Lagrène (born 4 September 1966) is a French jazz guitarist who came to prominence in the 1980s for his

Django Reinhardt Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Romani-French jazz guitarist and composer. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one of its most ...

–influenced style. He often performs in swing, jazz fusion, and

post-bop Post-bop is a genre of small-combo jazz that evolved in the early to mid 1960s in the United States. Pioneers of the genre, such as Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, John Coltrane and Jackie McLean, crafted syntheses ...

styles.

Biography

Lagrène was born in Soufflenheim,

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

, France, into a Romani family and community. His father and grandfather were guitarists, and he was raised in the Gypsy guitar tradition. He started playing at age four or five and by seven was improvising jazz in a style similar to that of

, whom his father admired and wanted his sons to emulate. In 1980, while in his early teens, he recorded his first album, ''Routes to Django: Live at the Krokodil'' (Jazzpoint, 1981). During the next few years, Lagrène toured with Al Di Meola,

Paco de Lucía Francisco Sánchez Gómez (21 December 194725 February 2014), known as Paco de Lucía (;), was a Spanish virtuoso flamenco guitarist, composer, and record producer. A leading proponent of the new flamenco style, he was one of the first flam ...

, and John McLaughlin, all of them guitarists, and played with

Benny Carter Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...

, Benny Goodman, and

Stéphane Grappelli Stéphane Grappelli (; 26 January 1908 – 1 December 1997, born Stefano Grappelli) was a French jazz violinist. He is best known as a founder of the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the fi ...

. He joined Larry Coryell and Vic Juris in New York City for a tribute to Reinhardt in 1984 and went on tour with Coryell and

Philip Catherine Philip Catherine (born 27 October 1942) is a Belgian jazz guitarist. Biography Philip Catherine was born in London, England, to an English mother and Belgian father, and was raised in Brussels, Belgium. His grandfather was a violinist in the ...

. He also performed with

Jaco Pastorius John Francis Anthony "Jaco" Pastorius III (; December 1, 1951 – September 21, 1987) was an American jazz bassist, composer and producer. He recorded albums as a solo artist and band leader and was a member of Weather Report from 1976 to 1981. ...

Stanley Clarke Stanley Clarke (born June 30, 1951) is an American bassist, film composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first ja ...

, the

Gil Evans Ian Ernest Gilmore Evans (né Green; May 13, 1912 – March 20, 1988) was a Canadian–American jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest orchestrators in jazz, playing an important role i ...

Orchestra,

Christian Escoudé Christian Escoudé (born 1947) is a French Gypsy jazz guitarist. He grew up in Angoulême and is of Romani descent on his father's side. His father was also a guitarist who was influenced by Django Reinhardt. When Escoudé was ten, his father b ...

, and

Charlie Haden Charles Edward Haden (August 6, 1937 – July 11, 2014) was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator whose career spanned more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, he was an original member of the ground-breaking ...

. In 1989 he performed in a duo with

Stanley Jordan Stanley Jordan (born July 31, 1959) is an American jazz guitarist noted for his playing technique, which involves tapping his fingers on the fretboard of the guitar with both hands. Music career Jordan was born in Chicago, Illinois, United St ...

. His collaboration with Italian guitarist Giuseppe Continenza, with whom he has performed in numerous concerts and festivals, including the

Pescara Jazz Pescara Jazz is an international jazz festival that takes place every year in July in Pescara, Abruzzo, Italy. When it started in 1969 it was the first Italian summer festival dedicated to jazz. Since 1981, the festival has take place every yea ...

and the Eddie Lang Jazz Festival, began in 1998, when the two met behind the scenes of a festival and started talking about each other's musical interests.

Awards

* "Django d’Or" for "French Musician" (1993) * "Les Victoires de la Musique" in the category of "Jazz Album" for the album ''Front Page'' (2001) * "Les Victoires de la Musique" nominated in the category of "Jazz Album" for the album ''Gypsy Project and Friends'' (2003) * "Django d’Or" for "French Musician" (2002) * "Django d’Or" for "People's Choice" (2002) * "Django d’Or" for "Balkan/Gypsy" guitar (2007) * Medal of "Chevalier des Arts & des Lettres" of France as awarded by Frédéric Mitterrand, Minister of Culture and Communication (2012)

Discography

* ''Routes to Django'' (

Antilles The Antilles (; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Antiy; es, Antillas; french: Antilles; nl, Antillen; ht, Antiy; pap, Antias; Jamaican Patois: ''Antiliiz'') is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mex ...

, 1980) * ''Fifteen'' (Antilles, 1982) * ''Down in Town'' (Antilles, 1983) * ''Django's Music Vol. 1'' with Mike Peters, Bob Wilber (Stash, 1985) * ''Stuttgart Aria'' with

and Vladislav Sendecki (Jazzpoint, 1986) * ''Bireli Lagrene and Special Guests'' with Larry Coryell, Miroslav Vitous (Jazzpoint, 1986) * ''Inferno'' (

Blue Note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical c ...

, 1987) * ''Foreign Affairs'' (Blue Note, 1988) * ''Acoustic Moments'' (Blue Note, 1990) * ''Standards'' (Blue Note, 1992) * ''Live at the Carnegie Hall'' (Jazz Point, 1993) * ''Live in Marciac'' ( Dreyfus, 1994) * ''My Favorite Django'' (Dreyfus, 1995) * ''Blue Eyes'' (Dreyfus, 1998) * ''Duet'' with Sylvain Luc (Dreyfus, 1999) * ''Front Page'' (with Dominique di Piazza and Dennis Chambers) (2001) * ''Gypsy Project'' (Dreyfus, 2001) * ''Gypsy Project & Friends'' (Dreyfus, 2002) * ''Swing '81'' ( Le Chant du Monde, 2005) * ''To Bi or Not to Bi'' (Dreyfus, 2006) * ''Djangology'' with WDR Big Band (Dreyfus, 2006) * ''Electric Side'' (Dreyfus, 2008) * ''Gipsy Trio'' (Dreyfus, 2009) * ''Mouvements'' (Universal, 2012) * ''D-Stringz'' with

Jean-Luc Ponty Jean-Luc Ponty (born 29 September 1942) is a French jazz violinist and composer. Early life Ponty was born into a family of classical musicians in Avranches, France. His father taught violin, his mother taught piano. At sixteen, he was admitt ...

( Impulse!, 2015) * ''Storyteller'' ( Naive, 2018) * ''Solo Suites'' (2022)

Filmography

* 1989 ''Super Guitar Trio - Live at Montreux'' * 2004 ''Bireli Lagrene & Friends:Live Jazz a Vienne'' (Dreyfus) * 2005 ''Django: A Jazz Tribute'' * 2005 ''Bireli Lagrene & Gypsy Project Live in Paris'' * 2006 ''Live in Paris'' (Dreyfus) * 2009 ''Monaco Dreyfus Night'' (Dreyfus) * 2017 ''Biréli Lagrène: Voilà!''

References

External links

Official site

Biréli Lagrène: Voilà!
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lagrene, Bireli 1966 births 20th-century French male musicians 20th-century guitarists 21st-century French male musicians 21st-century guitarists Antilles Records artists French jazz guitarists French male guitarists French Romani people Gypsy jazz guitarists Jazz fusion guitarists Living people French male jazz musicians Manouche people Romani guitarists Swing guitarists