Search - Bireli Lagrene :: Gypsy Project

Hot Stuff in the Style of the Hot Club!

VG | USA | 08/23/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Gypsy Project is the soundtrack for the story of the return of the prodigal son. Alsatian Gypsy guitarist Biréli Lagrène first wowed the world in the 1980s as a child prodigy playing the music of Django Reinhardt, as well as his own Gypsy jazz compositions. Upon hearing Lagrène?s stylish melody lines and innate sense of swing, the legend goes that Django?s brother, Joseph Reinhardt, broke down in tears and declared him the true successor to Django.
Lagrène released his first album, Routes to Django, in 1980 when he was but fourteen years old. He followed this debut with a never-ending cycle of tours and a handful of other LPs, including 15, Down in Town, and Swing ?81. By the mid-1980s, he was burnt out on emulating his cultural and musical hero, and began looking for new challenges.
Lagrène set aside his Favino-built Selmer copy and picked up an electric guitar. Alongside bass wonder Jaco Pastorius, he crafted an electric jazz-rock fusion sound that made Lagrène a star to a whole new galaxy of fans.
Beginning in the mid-1990s, Lagrène wearied of fusion as well. He turned his hands to a more mainstream style of jazz and released several records, including Acoustic Moments, My Favorite Django, Duet with Sylvain Luc, and Blue Eyes, a Gypsy tribute to Frank Sinatra. In addition, he teamed up with the Jimi Hendrix of the accordion, Richard Galliano, on albums such as New York Tango.
Now, Lagrène has suddenly returned to his roots. At the urging of his old fans and after seeing the growing commercial success of Gypsy jazz prodigies such as Jimmy Rosenberg, Lagrène is back with an album of glorious Django-style jazz.
Lagrène is joined here by a stellar cast. Accordionist Galliano and Romanian jazz violin virtuoso Florin Niculescu add their touch to several tracks. The rock-solid rhythm work of guitarists Hono Winterstein and Holzmano Lagrene as well as bassist Diego Imbert also shines.
But it?s Lagrène who is in the spotlight, and his guitarwork is creative, fun, energetic, and emotionally charged. Part of Lagrène?s genius in playing Gypsy jazz was that he didn?t seek speed at the expense of melody and swing. This holds true on this new album as well, with many songs played at Django?s original tempo?which is a good bit more relaxed than many pyrotechnicians play them today.
Gypsy Project is also Lagrène?s first Gypsy jazz studio recording, as all of his early albums were live releases. It?s good to have the opportunity to hear Lagrène loud and clear.
Part of the beauty of his sound lies in his choice of guitar. He first sought to borrow the Selmer #504 of Django, but when that proved impossible, he selected one of the new ?legacy? guitars built by French luthier Maurice Dupont. Using aged, forty-year-old woods and the original Selmer tooling, Lagrène?s top-of-the-line Dupont has a sound that is full, warm, and majestic.
With Gypsy Project, the prodigal son has returned. Welcome back!"

Absolute superb fuuuuuuun !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jazzcat | Genoa, Italy Italy | 07/05/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album is so well played, so respectful of the Django tradition and in the meanwhile innovative, so romantic, so meaningful, so intense, so technical, so satisfying, so clever, so funnyyyyyyyyyyy, so well recorded, it's such a value in the end it is ridicolous. It is absolutly breathtaking and spectacular!! I did buy this one, the other Bireli's album "live with friends" and the dvd. Bireli is stellar but Niculescu the violin player, man he's a monster musician (really). Consider that I really DON'T like violin but he plays magnificiently and I can't do nothing but change my mind about violin. This Django project it's one of the most satisfying jazz event of the recent years. When I think how much boring has become Jazz lately I find this album of music which has 60 years (!!!!) incredibly refreshing. Compare the Joy you feel in this album with a lot of sad, minimalist, sterile albums from some "modern" Jazz record companies...(I don't want to point out any of them but you know how many boring recent Jazz albums are out there on the shelves). This one blow them away!!!
WOWWWWWWWWWWWWW UN-BE-LIE-VA-BLE, FUN FUN FUN!!"

A masterpiece

Jazzcat | 01/16/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I keep a pad with me while driving around, listening with a keen ear to my radio on WBGO (the infamous jazz station in Newark, NJ). Every so often, there's a piece that just floors me to the point of pulling over and cranking the stereo up to unsafe levels. I don't recall which track it was exactly, but one track from an album the announcer called "The Gypsy Project" from some guy I've never heard of made me scribble "BUY THIS ALBUM!" in said pad.A few monts later, here I am with the full album, having listened to it over and over again, it's appeal growing on me with every listen. The guitar-driven pulse swings, grooves, and just generally rocks in a completely acoustic way. Not only does it offer immediate gradification, but it just keeps getting better.I would reccomend this album to anyone who likes music... at all."