To End
Face to Face
Just imagine a joint session with two outstanding guitarists. Here are Kazumi Watanabe and Bireli
Lagrene for a
an explosive summit.
The session will be held on 2006/05/30 at Paris Japanese cultural center
To Paris Japanese cultural center
Kazumi Watanabe
Born in 1953 in Tokyo, Kazumi Watanabe was taken up with the
jazz tradition in his teens, and has studied electric guitar under Sadanori
Nakamure. He made his solo debut in 1971 with the album "INFINITE", and was
acclaimed as a promising guitar prodigy. In 1979, he joined a group of
innovative musicians such as Ryuichi Sakamoto, Akiko Yano and Shuichi Murakami
to form the legendary all-star band KYLYN, making an impact on the Japanese
music scene. In autumn of the same year, he participated in the world tour of
Yellow Magic Orchestra. Its huge success brought the name KAZUMI an
international recognition. His works during the 80s have built him a reputation
as the precursor of jazz-fusion in Japan, especially with "TOCHIKA", one of his
record-breaking hit albums. Playing in the US and Asian countries under his own
leadership and performing with numerous top musicians of the world, he was
prized Nanri Fumio Award in 1991 and Grand Prix of Jazz Disc in 1984, among
others. In the 90s, Kazumi explored new ground in the classical idiom with
accoustic guitar. He received enthusiastic welcome performing in European
cities such as Barcelona and Rome in 1991, Sofia and Lisbon in 1995, and Paris
in 1997. From his "ESPRIT" released in 1996 through "DANDYZM"(1998) up to "ONE
FOR ALL" recorded live at the Bottom Line in New York, his recording works are
representative of his original style which places Kazumi in the forefront of
the music scene. Later on, he also launched into multimedia packages through
DVD releases such as "LES JEUX INTERDITS". Chosen Best Jazzman 24 times in a
row by Swing Journal's annual poll, he has been producing musical events, and
improvising, composing and arranging in a constant approach to create his own
musical universe. To celebrate his 30 years of professional career, he
presented the "Suite for Guitar" in January 2001, a composition/performance in
which he challenged the realms of possibility of his cherished fretboard
instrument - acoustic, electric and ethnic guitars. Kazumi's passion for
challenge and willingness to break the barrier of musical genres never cease to
fascinate all music-lovers. He has been teaching jazz courses as a guest
professor at Senzoku Gakuen College since 1996.
To Kazumi
Bireli Lagrene
Bireli Lagrene was born on September 4, 1966 in Saverne, Alsace, France. The son of Fiso Lagrene, a popular
guitarist in pre-war France, Lagrene displayed a prodigious talent as a very young child. Born into a gypsy
community, his origins and his fleet, inventive playing style inevitably generated comparisons with Django
Reinhardt. In 1978, he won a prize at a festival at Strasbourg and subsequently made a big impact during a
televised gypsy festival.
In his early teenage years Lagrene toured extensively playing concerts and festivals across Europe, often accompanied by distinguished jazz artists such as Benny Carter, Benny Goodman, Stéphane Grappelli and Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen. He also made his first record Routes To Django, which helped to prove that early estimates of his capabilities were not excessive.
An outstanding technician, Lagrene has revealed influences other than Reinhardt, happily incorporating bebop phraseology, rock rhythms and Brazilian music into his work. By the late 80s he had moved substantially from his early Reinhardt-style to fully embrace jazz-rock and other electronically-aided fusions.
Lagrene returned to his roots with such brilliant offerings as 1994’s My Favorite Django and 1998’s Blue Eyes as well as violinist Didier Lockwood’s 2000 recording Tribute To Stephane Grappelli and last year’s highly acclaimed Gypsy Project, which eminent jazz critic Gary Giddins hailed as “electrifying... represents his best work in years.” On Gipsy Project & Friends, Bireli burns a blue streak on the knucklebuster “Babik,” a blistering uptempo ode composed by Django for his guitar-playing son Babik Reinhardt. Elsewhere, Bireli reveals his deep gypsy soul on the mournful minor key “Ou Es-Tu Mon Amour” and the haunting ballad “Laura,” composed by David Raskin and Johnny Mercer for the 1944 film of the same name. He oozes sheer joie de swingon infectious showstoppers like “Djangology,” “Les Yeux Noirs,” “Minor Swing” (catch Bireli’s playful, tongue-in-cheek intro to that Django anthem) and “Artillerie Lourde,” reprising the buoyantly swinging spirit of the Hot Club of France alongside the remarkable violinist Florin Niculescu, who reads Bireli’s mind the way Stephane Grappelli read Django’s. Special guest Henri Salvador lends his velvety smooth French crooning style to the seductive ballad “Envie de Toi.”
To Bireli Lagrene
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