Biréli Lagrène

Biréli Lagrène ( born September 4, 1966 in Soufflenheim; pronunciation: [ bi ː rəlɪ ] ) is a French guitarist, composer and jazz musician.

Life and work

The Sinto Biréli Lagrène ( in Germany: Bireli Lagrene ) has from an early age with his father and his brother Fiso Gaiti (French: Gaiti ) made ​​music; his first record he recorded at the age of 12 years. The first years of his career were accompanied by his " discovery ", the Slovakian bassist Jan Jankeje, published the first records in the jazz label Point Records. During this time Biréli Lagrène played together with the American bassist Jaco Pastorius. Lagrène applies some as a " legitimate successor " Django Reinhardt, whose compositions he interprets not only congenial; he resembles his model of creativity and virtuosic phrasing, but is also taking trips to other varieties of jazz, Latin American music styles and even classical. In the tradition of Sinti and Manouche musicians Biréli Lagrène is a multi-instrumentalist; besides the guitar, he mastered bass, violin and piano and occasionally plays drums.

Lagrène has played together among others, the following musicians: Al di Meola, Larry Coryell, John McLaughlin, Vic Juris, Stochelo Rosenberg, Babik Reinhardt, Sylvain Luc, Gil Evans, Leon Redbone, Richard Galliano, Didier Lockwood, Elvin Jones and Diz Disley.

His repertoire includes compositions by Django Reinhardt and many of their own compositions from the Sintiswing and modern jazz area includes some interpretations of pop and rock songs such as Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper, I Shot The Sheriff by Bob Marley and some tracks from Jimi Hendrix. On Blue Eyes, it presents itself as a veritable jazz singer. Currently his Gipsy Project is, in which he has returned to his roots and collaborates with many sizes of the scene.

Mike Dregni called in his review in Vintage Guitar Magazine in December 2002, the album Gipsy Project & Friends " a true masterpiece " and the occupation ( Biréli Lagrène - guitar, Thomas Dutronc - Guitar, Wood Manno Lagrène - Guitar, Stochelo Rosenberg - guitar, Hono Winterstein - Guitar Diego Imbert - bass, Florin Niculescu - violin and Henri Salvador - vocals on piece 7 ) a " Gypsy Jazz lineup made ​​in heaven ".

On Djangology / To Bi Or Not To Bi, which published in 2007 double CD solo recordings Lagrènes are first heard, on the second CD he plays with the WDR Big Band Cologne.

Discography (selection)

• Routes To Django
• Biréli Swing '81
• 15
• Stuttgart Aria Live ( Pastorius )
• Heavy'n Jazz ( Pastorius )
• My Favourite Django, 1995
• Blue Eyes, 1998
• Acoustic Moments
• Duet ( with Sylvain Luc ), 2000
• FrontPage ( with Dominique Di Piazza and Dennis Chambers )
• Inferno
• Lagrene And Guests
• Live In Marciac
• Highlights
• Foreign Affairs
• Standards
• Move, 2004
• Djangology / To Bi Or Not To Bi, 2005
• Gypsy Project, 2001
• Gypsy Project & Friends
• Electric Side, 2008
• Summertime ( with Sylvain Luc ), 2009
• Gypsy Trio feat. Roberto Alagna, 2009

Videography

• Super Guitar Trio And Friends
• Django: A Jazz Tribute
• Jazz à Vienne 2000
• Jazz à Vienne 2002