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Nguyên Lê was born in Paris to Vietnamese parents. He started studying percussions at the age of 15, then switched to the guitar, and later moved on to the electric bass guitar. Following a degree in visual arts and a master's degree in philosophy on the subject of exoticism, he co-founded the band Ultramarine in 1983, and won the first prize at the Concours national de jazz de La Défense. The band's album «De» was later described as «the best 1989 world music album» (Philippe Conrath, «Libération»). Antoine Hervé chose Lê to play the guitar for the Orchestre national de jazz (1987, 1988, 1989), which lead him to perform with such artists as Johnny Griffin, Louis Sclavis, Didier Lockwood, Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, Randy Brecker, Toots Thielemans, Courtney Pine, Steve Lacy, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Gil Evans, and Quincy Jones.
In 1990, he recorded his first solo album «Miracle» in the United States, with the contribution of Art Lande, Mark Johnson and Peter Erskine. During this time, he performed with Aldo Romano, J.F. Jenny Clarke, Dewey Redman, Daniel Humair, Michel Benita, Nana Vasconcelos, Glenn Ferris, and Paolo Fresu. In May 1992, he released his second album, «Zanzibar», with Art Lande on the piano, Paul McCandless on wind, Dean Johnson (bass) and Joel Allouche (drums). The album was awarded the distinction «fff», «an exceptional event» (Télérama). In April 1994, he appeared as a soloist in «The New Yorker», a suite for full orchestra written and directed by Bob Brookmeyer, with Dieter llg (bass) & Danny Gottlieb (drums). Ilg and Gottlieb took part in the recording of Lê's third album, «Million Waves», in December 1994.
In April 1996, he released «Tales from Vietnam», a rereading of Vietnamese music with a group of eight traditional and jazz musicians, which was acclaimed by the international critic : Diapason d'or, Choc du monde de la musique, Choc de I'année 1996 Jazzman... «3 Trios» followed in 1997, with Marc Johnson/Peter Erskine, Dieter llg/Danny Gottlieb and Renaud Garçia Fons/Mino Cinelu.
«Maghreb & Friends», Lê's sixth album, came out in 1998. It is the result of an intense collaboration with North African musicians, an It explores traditional music from the Maghreb. After this, he produced «Moon & Wind», singer Huong Thanh's («Tales from Vietnam») first album, which was voted album of the month in October 1999 by FlP (Radio France Info-Paris), and album of the year by "Keyboards"
His new trio CD, «Bakida», came out in March 2000, featuring Renaud Garçia Fons/Tino di Geraldo and guests from many different countries: Chris Potter, Carles Benavent, Kudsi Erguner, Jon Balke... In 2001, he recorded «ELB» (Peter Erskine, Nguyên Lê, Michel Benita), and produced Huong Thanh's album «Dragonfly». On stage, he performed with his various bands, the Bakida Trio, the ELB Trio, Maghreb & Friends, and the Nguyên Lê and Huong Thanh Sextet. At the same time, he recorded an album centred on the music of Jimi Hendrix, which was released in 2002. «I have no intention of doing a Jimi Hendrix revival. I want to read him like an essential book, and then take his music to places Hendrix himself would have certainly liked to explore today: jazz, new electronic music and world music. I want to play his work with that profound «jazz attitude», which combines respect for tradition and a sense of improvisation, with the burning and passionate commitment for music that Jimi Hendrix.
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