Born in Paris from vietnamese parents, he began to play drums at the age of 15, then took up guitar & electric bass. After graduating in Visual Arts, he majored in Philosophy, writing a thesis on Exoticism. Then he devoted to music, creating "ULTRAMARINE" (1983), a multi-ethnic band whose CD " De " has been considered "1989' s best World Music album" Philippe Conrath, Liberation.
Nguyen LE is a self-taught musician, with a wide scope of interests : Rock & Funk (Jim Cuomo, Madagascar tour 84), Jazz standards & contemporary Jazz (bass player with Marc Ducret, guitar player with Eric Barret), Improvised Music (Yves Robert), Singers (Ray Charles), Contemporary Music (Andre Almuro, Tona Scherchen, Marius Constant, Mauricio Kagel), Ethnic Music : African & Caribbean with ULTRAMARINE , Algerian with Safy Boutella & Cheb Mami, Indian with Kakoli, Turkish with Kudsi Erguner, Vietnamese with his "Dan Bau" (traditional one-stringed instrument) teacher Truong Tang.
In sept. 87 he was chosen by director Antoine Herve to play with the O. N. J. (French National Jazz Orchestra). Within this big band, he played with such musicians as Johnny Griffin, Louis Sclavis, Didier Lockwood, Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, Randy Brecker, Toots Thielemans, Courtney Pine, Steve Lacy, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Gil Evans, Quincy Jones. Nguyen LE' s work also deals with programming synthetizers, effects & computers as well as writing orchestral pieces : "PROCESSOR" composed, arranged & recorded on CD "O.N.J. 87" & "LUNIK II" co- arranged with Dominique Borker & performed by the O.N.J. 1989.
In sept. 89 he records ULTRAMARINE's 2nd album "De" &, in may 90, his first album as a leader : " MIRACLES " recorded in the U.S.A. with Art LANDE, Marc JOHNSON & Peter ERSKINE. At the same time he works with such musicians as Michel Portal, Miroslav Vitous, Trilok Gurtu, J. F. Jenny Clarke, Aldo Romano, Daniel Humair, Dewey Redman, Andy Emler, Jon Christensen, Nana Vasconcelos, Glenn Ferris, Christof Lauer, Paolo Fresu, Kenny Wheeler, John Taylor ...
In may 92, after a month tour with Paul McCANDLESS on winds, Art Lande (p), Dean Johnson (b) & Jo�l Allouche (d), he records his 2nd album ZANZIBAR, which gets the � ffff � award by T�l�rama. In Jan. 93 he records "INIT", a trio with Andr� Ceccarelli, Fran�ois Moutin & guest Bob Berg, while setting up a new band on the music of Jimi Hendrix, w/ Corin Curschellas (voc), Steve Arg�elles (d), Richard Bona (b). Since Jan. 93 he's been a frequent guest soloist of Koln's WDR Big band, especially with composer/director Vince MENDOZA. Nguyen Le plays on three of his projects : "Jazzpaea", "Sketches" w/ Dave LIEBMAN, Charlie MARIANO, Peter Erskine, & "Downtown", w/ Russell Ferrante. In April 94 he's the guest soloist of "The New Yorker", a suite by Bob BROOKMEYER, with Dieter Ilg (b) & Danny Gottlieb (d). With these two musicians he set his first trio, & recorded "MILLION WAVES" in dec. 94 . About this CD, Telerama writes : "This trio brings him to some musical spaces which he had not even imagined, & which are pure poetry".
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In the meantime, he's playing in trio with Michel Benita(b) & Peter Erskine, recording on Michel Portal's new album with Ralph TOWNER (g), & working with Ornette COLEMAN on one of his contemporary music pieces, "Freedom Statue". In June 95 he's invited by WDR BigBand in "Azure Moon", with the YELLOWJACKETS & Vince Mendoza. In July 95, in Stuttgart Festival, he's one of the guest guitar players to celebrate the "Universe of Jimi Hendrix", besides Trilok Gurtu, Terry BOZZIO, Cassandra WILSON, Jack BRUCE, Vernon REID, David TORN, Victor BAILEY, Pharoah SANDERS... Recently he has been playing with John McLaughlin, Michel Petrucianni, Markus Stockhausen, Enrico Rava, Ray Anderson, Kenny Wheeler, John Taylor, Dave Douglas, Wolfgang Pushnig...
In April 96, Nguyen Le creates "Tales from Viet-Nam", a project on Vietnamese music, with a 8-piece band blending jazz & traditional musicians. With stage director P. J. San Bartolome, he starts " Of the Moon & the Wind ", a complete show where traditional & contemporary vietnamese dancers are integrated to the "Tales from Viet- Nam" orchestra. The CD has received a great welcoming from international critics : Diapason d'Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique, Choc of Year 1996 Jazzman, 2nd best CD 96 for JAZZTHING (Germany), Best CD 96 on radio TRS 2 (CH), "a minor masterpiece" JAZZTIMES (USA).
On 4/97 Nguyen LE releases his 5th CD, " 3 Trios", with Marc Johnson/ Peter Erskine, Dieter Ilg/ Danny Gottlieb & Renaud Garcia Fons/ Mino Cinelu. JAZZIZ Magazine USA says : At times, jazz guitar can sound staid - but not in the case of N. LE. He's forever breaking boundaries for our benefit. He has recorded 2 Cds with Paolo Fresu's quartet : Angel (2/98) & Metamorfosi (4/99). On 5/98, 6th N. LE record : Maghreb & Friends, an exploration of Maghreb musical traditions & a deep collaboration with Algerian musicians. "Far from a false world music, N. LE simply touches, with force & intensity, to universality" F. Medioni. N. LE produced the 1rst CD of Huong Thanh, Moon & Wind, entirely done in his home studio. He also has been nominated for the Victoires de la Musique 1999 award. His CD BAKIDA, based on his regular trio with Renaud Garcia Fons (b) & Tino di Geraldo (perc, dr) plus guests from all over the world like Kudsi Erguner, Chris Potter, Carlos Benavent... This CD has been voted "best jazz album of the year" by "CD Compact" (Spain). ELB, a new trio CD has just been recorded in Rainbow studios, Oslo, with Peter Erskine & Michel Benita. He's touring with Terri Lyne Carrington's band, with Geri Allen, Matt Garrison & Gary Thomas & plays with Maria Schneider. Sept 2002 : 2nd CD of Huong Thanh Dragonfly. In june 2002 he's invited by the Metropole Orchestra (NL) to play his music arranged by Vince Mendoza. Purple, an album celebrating Jimi Hendrix is released in sept 2002. In sept 2002 it's ne 1 on the charts of UK magazine "Jazzwise". Today it's N. Le's most successful album, with 25 000 CD sales & non stop touring all over the world. "Mangustao", Huong Thanh's 3rd album, released in jan. 2004, is awarded as "Choc de la Musique" by french magazine "Le Monde de la Musique".In March 2005 release of "Walking on the Tiger's Tail", new album with his great friends Art Lande, Paul McCandless & Jamey Haddad. Several projects were built in 2006 : the score writing of "Le Sheitan", a movie by Kim Chapiron with Vincent Cassel, & Homescape, a very electronic & improvised recording in duo with Paolo Fresu & Dhafer Youssef, all done at home, #1 in Jazzwise april 2006 charts; the score for the vietnamese movie "Saigon Eclipse" by Othello Khanh; the recording of "Mozart" last Uri Caine's album; a 13-gig tour in USA with "Tiger's Tail" quartet, thanks to a CMA/FACE grant; two "classical" compositions commissionned by the Ahn Trio & the Laguna Beach Fest in LA. Nguyen Le was unanimously awarded as the guitar "Django d'Or" 2006. In 2007, after tours in US & China, he releases "Fragile Beauty", the 4th album with Huong Thanh «Simply an album that captures the heart from the first note and leaves it hungering for more as the last one fades» (All That Jazz). In 2008 he records "The Othello Syndrome" for Uri Caine, "Blauklang" for Vince Mendoza's & also « Dream Flight » a new ELB album, with guest Stéphane Guillaume on sax. A new album comes out in oct 2009: SAIYUKI, an asian trio with Mieko Miyazaki (koto) & Prabhu Edouard (tablas) & special guest Hariprasad Chaurasia (flute). He’s the mixing engineer & co-producer of Dhafer’s Youssef «Abu Nawas Rhapsody», Céline Bonacina’s «Way of Life» & Mario Canonge «Mitan». «Signature Edition», a double-CD album showing 20 years of music creation has been released by ACT in march 2010. AllAboutJazz will say: «the ample evidence of an artist whose voice has been his own from the very beginning». He’s guest soloist on Erkki Sven Tüür’s 5th symphony with Bremen Philarmonic. For the 2nd time Nguyên Lê is the recipient of the CMA/FACE grant which helps the «Saiyuki inviting Rudresh Mahanthappa» project to tour in US in the fall 2010. In 2011 he is awarded by the rank of «Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts & des Lettres» by French Cultural minister & receives the Django Reinhardt prize by French Academie du Jazz. «Ting Ning», excerpt from «Tales from Viet-Nam» (1996) is selected between only 4 european artists in the 6-CD compendium «Jazz: the Simthsonian Anthology». The album «Songs of Freedom», released in april 2011, is an exotic & eccentric reading of Pop hits from the 70’s with Illya Amar, Linley Marthe, St. Galland & guests Youn Sun Nah, David Linx, Dhafer Youssef, a.o. It has received a fantastic welcoming from international press («Record of the Year» & cover story in Jazzmagazine/Jazzman) & was on top jazz charts of Itunes & Amazon. N. Lê is part of «Nights on Earth», Vince Mendoza’s last album. He takes part of the 1rst International Jazz Day celebration at Unesco with Herbie Hancock. In 2013 he produces the album «Doc Dao» for & with Hanoian singer Tung Duong, with which he receives 3 awards in Vietnam : «Best Song of the Year», «Man of the year» & «Best Show of the Year». In 2014 he releases «Celebrating the Dark Side of the Moon», a very personal version of the famous Pink Floyd’s album, with the NDR Bigband, Youn Sun Nah, Gary Husband & Michael Gibbs’ orchestrations.
Awards
1989, Ultramarine's "Dé" cd : Best world music album, Libération daily newspaper
1996, "Tales from Viet-Nam" CD : Diapason d'Or, Choc du Monde
de la Musique, Choc of Year Jazzman, 2nd best CD for JAZZTHING (Germany),
Best CD 96 on radio TRS2 (CH)
1999 : nominated for Victoires de la Musique, France. "Bakida" album : "best jazz
album of the year" by "CD Compact" (Spain).
2004, "Mangustao" CD : Choc de la Musique
2006 : "Django d'Or" award
2011 : «Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts & des Lettres» french cultural minister
award. "Songs of Freedom" CD : "Record of the Year" Jazzman
2013 Vietnamese awards for "Doc Dao" CD : «Best Song of the Year», «Man of the
year» & «Best Show of the Year»
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