Biréli Lagrène (born 4 September 1966)[1] is a French jazz guitarist who came to prominence in the 1980s for his
Django Reinhardt–influenced style. He often performs in
swing,
jazz fusion, and
post-bop styles.
Biography
Lagrène was born in
Soufflenheim,
Alsace, 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
Django Reinhardt, 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).[2][3]
His collaboration with Italian guitarist Giuseppe Continenza, with whom he has performed in numerous concerts and festivals, including the
Pescara Jazz 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.[4][5][6]
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)
^
abFerguson, Jim; Kernfeld, Barry (2002). Kernfeld, Barry (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. Vol. 2 (2nd ed.). New York: Grove's Dictionaries. p. 536.
ISBN1-56159-284-6.
^Lankford Jr., Ronnie D.
"Biréli Lagrène". AllMusic. Retrieved August 6, 2016.