The Muskegon Museum of Art recently played host to an exceptional evening of jazz brilliance as The Great Guitars™ took the stage, featuring guitar legends Biréli Lagrène, Martin Taylor, and Ulf Wakenius. This special concert, described as “one night, three award-winning guitarists, eighteen strings,” paid tribute to a concept that began in the 1970s when jazz guitar icons would tour together in collaborative performances. Martin Taylor, who joined the original group in the 1980s alongside Barney Kessel and Charlie Byrd, revived this iconic format for a new generation. Enlisting Lagrene and Wakenius, Taylor curated a performance that mixed solo, duo, and trio acts, bringing together masterful fingerstyle, gypsy, and jazz guitar into a single, dazzling showcase of skill, musicality, and camaraderie.
The performance offered not just technical brilliance, but also humor and heartfelt emotion, with all three artists contributing their unique voices to the collective. Between them, they boast collaborations with a wide array of major artists across genres—ranging from Tommy Emmanuel to David Grisman, and from Bonnie Raitt to Bob Dylan. Biréli Lagrène, in particular, brought decades of innovation and depth to the evening. Recognized as a child prodigy in the 1980s, Lagrene has since grown into a towering figure in jazz guitar. Born in 1966 in Saverne, France, in the heart of the gypsy community, he was introduced to the guitar by his father and brother. Early influences included Matelot Ferré, companion of Django Reinhardt, whose recordings Lagrene obsessively studied before forging his own distinct style.
Lagrene’s early discography—including Routes to Django (1980), Bireli Swing ’81 (1981), and Fifteen (1982)—revealed a young artist deeply engaged with freedom and improvisation, core principles of the manouche jazz tradition. However, Lagrene’s musical explorations didn’t stop there. Inspired by artists like Wes Montgomery, George Benson, and later fusion legends such as Jaco Pastorius and Weather Report, Lagrene ventured into jazz fusion. In the mid-1980s, he began collaborating with major jazz figures including Stéphane Grappelli and Larry Coryell, eventually forming a formidable reputation in both traditional and fusion jazz. He also dabbled with the bass, developing a Pastorius-inspired style before returning fully to guitar, where he refined an improvisational voice that stood among the world’s best.
Lagrene’s career is marked by rich and diverse collaborations. He has worked with John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucia, Al Di Meola, Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, Mike Stern, and even recorded two live albums with Pastorius. By 1990, his album Acoustic Moments brought together the best of traditional jazz and fusion. Two years later, Standards earned critical praise, and Viaggio in 1993 further expanded his global recognition. That same year, he received the prestigious Django d’Or award, followed by a Victoires de la Musique award in 2001 for Front Page, his collaboration with Dominique Di Piazza and Dennis Chambers.
At the age of 35, Lagrene revisited his roots with the highly successful Gipsy Project (2001), merging deep tradition with breathtaking technical execution. In 2002, Gipsy Project & Friends solidified this direction, leading to further acclaim. The 2004 release of Move, featuring saxophone in place of violin, marked another standout project in the gypsy jazz tradition. This period culminated in a triumphant 2005 performance at the Olympia in Paris and the release of a special double CD in 2006—Djangology (with the WDR Big Band) and To Bi or Not To Bi (a solo effort)—celebrating Lagrene’s 40th birthday.
In the past 17 years, Lagrene has continued to release notable work, including collaborations with Jimmy Rosenberg, Angelo Debarre, Stanley Clarke, Jean-Luc Ponty, Rony Lakatos, André Charlier, and Benoît Sourisse. His albums, such as D-Stringz, Tribute to Stéphane & Django, Remembering Jaco, and Solo Suites (2022), showcase his range and evolution. In 2023, he released Bireli Lagrene plays Loulou Gasté, a heartfelt tribute to one of French chanson’s greats, accompanied by Hono Winterstein and Diego Imbert.
Throughout his career, Biréli Lagrene has consistently honored his roots while exploring new terrain. His contribution to The Great Guitars™ concert at Muskegon was another chapter in a storied musical journey that remains as vibrant and boundary-pushing as ever.
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