Biréli Lagrène

Biréli Lagrène is a guitarist I'd put on without hesitation. Coming out of Soufflenheim in Alsace and steeped in the Django Reinhardt tradition, he became a sensation in the 1980s while still very young, and the gypsy-jazz lineage in his playing is unmistakable. What keeps me coming back is that he never stayed boxed in by it, moving fluidly between swing, fusion, and post-bop. That restlessness, the refusal to coast on one signature style, is exactly what I admire in lifelong musicians. He's the rare technician who never lets the chops drown out the feeling, and I think that balance is why his name still carries weight among players.

Name (English)

Biréli Lagrène

Name (Japanese)

ビレリ・ラグレーン

Reading

びれり・らぐれーん

Born

September 4, 1966 (age 59)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Virgo / Horse

Origin

Soufflenheim, France

Occupation

jazz guitarist

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttps://birelilagrene.com/
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%93%E3%83%AC%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BB%E3%83%A9%E3%82%B0%E3%83%AC%E3%83%BC%E3%83%B3

Tags

• jazz guitarist

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.