Martin Taylor and Biréli Lagrène

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Martin Taylor is widely considered to be the world’s foremost exponent of solo jazz and fingerstyle guitar playing. His remarkable career spans five decades, and he possesses an inimitable style that is praised by fans and critics and greatly admired—and often imitated—by guitarists all over the world. He dazzles audiences by artfully combining his virtuosity, emotion, and humor with a strong, engaging stage presence.

When Biréli Lagrène’s Routes to Django: Live was issued in 1980, the then-13-year-old jazz guitarist was immediately praised by critics as a guitar prodigy in the vein of Django Reinhardt. For the next five years, Lagrène would mime Reinhardt’s style, even recording versions of the master’s “Nuages” and “Djangology” on Biréli Swing ’81. An active live performer since the 1970s, Lagrène debuted in America in 1984 at a Django Reinhardt tribute at Fat Tuesday’s in New York City, and he has performed at New York’s Blue Note Jazz Club with Larry Coryell and Billy Cobham. He has also recorded a steady stream of albums, including 2001’s Gypsy Project, a recording that found him returning to Reinhardt and the classic jazz songbook.