Search - Bireli Lagrene :: Bireli Lagrene: Standards

This album will change your life

Richard Smallfield | New Zealand | 01/02/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Bireli Lagrene - Standards
I could say that Bireli Lagrene is simply the best flat-pick swing/bop jazz guitarist I have ever heard, but there are many others who are great also, for varying reasons. His first album came out when he was only 13 years old and since then he has proved himself to be one of those people born to play the guitar. He is immensely musical and his technique is flawless. His virtuosity is never displayed for its own sake, however: the music always comes first and takes on a life of its own. He is not an innovator as much as simply a virtuoso - and what a passionate player he is. If I was to vote a single jazz guitar standards album as the best ever, it would of course be largely a question of taste - but none could surpass this one. Although other players are more harmonically innovative, his musicality and virtuosity are overwhelming here. (If you can't track this one down, try 'Live in Marciac', which, in my opinion, is not quite up to this standard, but is worth a listen)"

American exceptionism in "jazzmusics"

Peppino | 02/02/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I do not know where to begin,
This selection of standards are all among my favorites, and they are rendered by a musician I consider the greatest guitarista in the world (And I have listened to the masters, from Wes to Brasilian legend Heraldo do Monte, and all points in between), mestre Bireli LaGrene. A child prodigy, playing Django Reinhardt -style in the "Gipsy-jazz" tradition, this is well known, ..or, IS IT?If Bireli was American, he would be a "guitar hero" in the USA, instead of a marginalized musician underappreciated and underexposed. but, IMO>> He is a Rom (Gipsy) from the Alsace-Lorraine region,and it is a rare moment (The cliche "cold day in hell" ) that the USian jazz community gives any credit to a non-American "jazzman" as an innovator, or maestro of the idiom. The rare times of acknowledgement, it is a Tubby Hayes, NHOP, Michel Petrucianni, that is,(if I may bold state), one who is not a "person of color", as a Joe Harriott or our man Bireli.
Then again, also there is the equal repugnant "you have to be black to play jazz" thing, ih! Give us the BREAK, no? Equal adept at the traditional gipsy styles(Check his recent cd, "The Gipsy Project" for an update on the Django tradition), bebop, jazz fusion and even hard rock idiomas, acustic and electric guitar and bass, I can only praise, Bireli LaGrene is not only a formidable technician of the instrument(He plays it, it does not "Play" him), but his harmonic and melodic concepts are displayed in beautiful chord voicings and substitutions, and solo lines that run from lightning speed 64th notes to simply stated articulations every solo a work of art, not an excercise in technical excess. As in Wes Montgomery's concept, you never notice the technical aspect of the playing, as the melodic statements are so beautiful and conversational.(You must see Bireli in concert, he plays lines at the spur of the moments that most musicians would kill to conceive..) This recording touches on the bebop tradition
~"Donna Lee" and "Ornithology" from the Charlie PArker book),
~ "Stella by Starlight" and "Softly as A Morning Sunrise" from the "Real Book" school,
~"C'est Si Bon" from The French and
~Jobim's timeless "Insensatez", among others ,this recording a "must have" for ALL guitaristas and guitar enthusiasts, but also for ALL jazz fans, the innovation and genius of Birlei's musical conception is evedent in every bar of every composition! (Even the corny "Smile" is rendered quite listenable , not a weak moment on this recording).viva Bireli,
1 million stars, give this an entire galaxy."

This CD will make you want to burn your guitar, if you play

Richard Smallfield | 04/13/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Birelli must be the finest artist on a guitar that I've ever heard! His style and technique are beyond comparison with anyone alive today. The sidemen on this recording are also some of the finest I've ever heard. I wonder what Django would say if he were alive?"