Biography
An adventurous guitarist from France who bends genres with ease, Nguyên Lê surfaced during the 1980s with an expansive approach to improvisational music rooted in jazz, fusion, funk, ambient new age textures, and global ethnic traditions. The initial recordings he made alongside his band Ultramarine drew notice from the worldwide jazz audience, much as his first solo outing, the 1990 album Miracles, did when he collaborated with pianist Art Lande, drummer Peter Erskine, and bassist Marc Johnson. Although his core output remains probing electric and electronic-tinged jazz, he has ventured into other realms, tracing his Vietnamese heritage on Tales from Viet-Nam and engaging African and Middle Eastern influences on Maghreb & Friends. He has likewise saluted rock-oriented inspirations through the 2003 release Purple: Celebrating Jimi Hendrix and the 2015 Pink Floyd tribute Celebrating the Dark Side of the Moon. Widely celebrated across Europe, Lê has attracted devoted listeners internationally through partnerships with contemporaries such as trumpeter Paolo Fresu, reed player Michel Portal, and Vietnamese vocalist Huong Thanh.
Born in Paris in 1959 to Vietnamese parents, Nguyên Lê began on drums during adolescence before moving to bass and eventually guitar. Though largely self-taught, he advanced rapidly and, while at university, broadened his scope to encompass jazz, rock, and ambient styles while incorporating electronics and programming. He first pursued visual arts and philosophy, completing a thesis on Exoticism, prior to committing fully to music. In the early 1980s he assembled the multi-ethnic group Ultramarine and issued several respected boundary-crossing albums, among them 1985’s Programme Jungle and 1989’s Dé. He also became a member of France’s Orchestre National de Jazz, appearing on such recordings as Orchestra ’87 and Lunik II while collaborating with figures including Carla Bley, Didier Lockwood, Louis Sclavis, and Steve Lacy.
Lê began his solo trajectory in 1990 by traveling to the United States to cut Miracles with Art Lande, Peter Erskine, and Marc Johnson. Two years later Zanzibar arrived, featuring saxophonist Paul McCandless and drummer Joël Allouche; the trio album Million Waves followed in 1995 with bassist Dieter Ilg and drummer Danny Gottlieb. Across these projects he continued to integrate jazz, world music, rock, and new age elements into a cohesive voice. Throughout the 1990s he maintained regular work with Vince Mendoza and the WDR Big Band while contributing to sessions with Michel Portal, Trilok Gurtu, and Ornette Coleman. A durable association developed with trumpeter Paolo Fresu, leading to frequent appearances in Fresu’s quartet. Lê also belonged to the trio E-L-B alongside Erskine and bassist Michel Bénita.
In 1996 he examined his Vietnamese background on Tales from Viet-Nam, enlisting vocalist Huong Thanh together with Fresu, Gurtu, and Bénita. Three Trios emerged the next year, followed in 1998 by Maghreb & Friends, which delved into African and Middle Eastern traditions with guests Karim Ziad, Bojan Zulfikarpasic, and Michel Alibo. He rejoined Thanh for 1999’s Moon and Wind, an album that earned him a Victoires de la Musique nomination. The 2000s brought further cross-genre explorations, including the 2000 album Bakida with Chris Potter, Fresu, and Jon Balke. Purple: Celebrating Jimi Hendrix surfaced in 2002, while 2005’s Walking on the Tiger’s Tail reunited him with McCandless and Lande. Duo performances with Fresu and Dhafer Youssef appeared on 2006’s Homescape, the same year Lê received the Django d’Or. He recorded once more with Thanh on 2007’s Fragile Beauty and contributed to Uri Caine’s The Classical Variations in 2008. In 2010 he joined Mieko Miyazaki, Prabhu Edouard, and Hariprasad Chaurasia for Saiyuki.
Songs of Freedom, issued in 2011, presented Lê’s interpretations of material addressing unity and love, drawing on works by Bob Marley, Led Zeppelin, and the Beatles. That year he was named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts & des Lettres by the French minister of culture and received the Django Reinhardt prize from the French Académie du Jazz. Urban Folktales followed in 2012, spotlighting the guitarist with Theo Bleckmann and the Jazz Bigband Graz. He participated in the NDR Bigband’s 2015 Pink Floyd tribute Celebrating the Dark Side of the Moon and shared a nomination for Germany’s Echo Jazz Award with Pat Metheny and Bill Frisell. In 2017 Lê collaborated with Vietnamese fiddle and lute player Ngô Hồng Quang on Hà Nội Duo, which again featured Fresu. Overseas, the soundtrack to an interdisciplinary project with director and choreographer Tuan Le and the Cirque-Nouveau dance and acrobatics ensemble, appeared in 2019 and blended jazz, hip-hop, and traditional Vietnamese music.
Born in Paris in 1959 to Vietnamese parents, Nguyên Lê began on drums during adolescence before moving to bass and eventually guitar. Though largely self-taught, he advanced rapidly and, while at university, broadened his scope to encompass jazz, rock, and ambient styles while incorporating electronics and programming. He first pursued visual arts and philosophy, completing a thesis on Exoticism, prior to committing fully to music. In the early 1980s he assembled the multi-ethnic group Ultramarine and issued several respected boundary-crossing albums, among them 1985’s Programme Jungle and 1989’s Dé. He also became a member of France’s Orchestre National de Jazz, appearing on such recordings as Orchestra ’87 and Lunik II while collaborating with figures including Carla Bley, Didier Lockwood, Louis Sclavis, and Steve Lacy.
Lê began his solo trajectory in 1990 by traveling to the United States to cut Miracles with Art Lande, Peter Erskine, and Marc Johnson. Two years later Zanzibar arrived, featuring saxophonist Paul McCandless and drummer Joël Allouche; the trio album Million Waves followed in 1995 with bassist Dieter Ilg and drummer Danny Gottlieb. Across these projects he continued to integrate jazz, world music, rock, and new age elements into a cohesive voice. Throughout the 1990s he maintained regular work with Vince Mendoza and the WDR Big Band while contributing to sessions with Michel Portal, Trilok Gurtu, and Ornette Coleman. A durable association developed with trumpeter Paolo Fresu, leading to frequent appearances in Fresu’s quartet. Lê also belonged to the trio E-L-B alongside Erskine and bassist Michel Bénita.
In 1996 he examined his Vietnamese background on Tales from Viet-Nam, enlisting vocalist Huong Thanh together with Fresu, Gurtu, and Bénita. Three Trios emerged the next year, followed in 1998 by Maghreb & Friends, which delved into African and Middle Eastern traditions with guests Karim Ziad, Bojan Zulfikarpasic, and Michel Alibo. He rejoined Thanh for 1999’s Moon and Wind, an album that earned him a Victoires de la Musique nomination. The 2000s brought further cross-genre explorations, including the 2000 album Bakida with Chris Potter, Fresu, and Jon Balke. Purple: Celebrating Jimi Hendrix surfaced in 2002, while 2005’s Walking on the Tiger’s Tail reunited him with McCandless and Lande. Duo performances with Fresu and Dhafer Youssef appeared on 2006’s Homescape, the same year Lê received the Django d’Or. He recorded once more with Thanh on 2007’s Fragile Beauty and contributed to Uri Caine’s The Classical Variations in 2008. In 2010 he joined Mieko Miyazaki, Prabhu Edouard, and Hariprasad Chaurasia for Saiyuki.
Songs of Freedom, issued in 2011, presented Lê’s interpretations of material addressing unity and love, drawing on works by Bob Marley, Led Zeppelin, and the Beatles. That year he was named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts & des Lettres by the French minister of culture and received the Django Reinhardt prize from the French Académie du Jazz. Urban Folktales followed in 2012, spotlighting the guitarist with Theo Bleckmann and the Jazz Bigband Graz. He participated in the NDR Bigband’s 2015 Pink Floyd tribute Celebrating the Dark Side of the Moon and shared a nomination for Germany’s Echo Jazz Award with Pat Metheny and Bill Frisell. In 2017 Lê collaborated with Vietnamese fiddle and lute player Ngô Hồng Quang on Hà Nội Duo, which again featured Fresu. Overseas, the soundtrack to an interdisciplinary project with director and choreographer Tuan Le and the Cirque-Nouveau dance and acrobatics ensemble, appeared in 2019 and blended jazz, hip-hop, and traditional Vietnamese music.
Albums
