Did Bireli ever play with Grappelli?

Phil

Grappelli played with The Rosenberg Trio and recorded with them...did he ever do the same with Bireli and if not, how come he didn't? ~ Phil :shock:

elias t.

hi , from what i remember , i think bireli mentioned playing with grappelli when he was about 10 years old , unless i am mistaken i think its in the live jazz a viene dvd , someone correct me if im wrong . cheers !

Frans

Hi Elias & Phil,

I clearly remember Bireli mentioning Grapelli in an interview in Guitar Player in the '80's, I'm not sure I still can find it but in my memory it was a "revealing" interview
kind regards
Frans

Soref

Hi everyone,

Bireli does mention playing with Grapelli when he was ten years old on the Live in Paris DVD. He tells the story of being introduced to SG during a set break and having his guitar with him. Apparently he played a couple phrases, and after that Stephane lead Bireli onto the stage to finish the show with him. I think he says after that that they played together often, although I don't know of any recorded examples. Sorry I can't direct anyone to video or audio footage.

regards,
Jack

panick

I asked Bireli about this in an interview a few years ago...


You had a chance to play with Stéphane Grappelli, didn’t you?

A few times, yeah. I met him in 1980 when he came to Strasbourg. He was playing there with Niels Pederson on bass, Larry Coryell and Philip Catherine on guitar. So I went there with my father to check them out. We went backstage, I think during the intermission. Some gypsies grabbed me a said, “You have to go and meet him. And he has to hear you.” So I took my little guitar and I played a few things backstage, and five minutes later I was with him on stage. And we ended the whole second part on stage. I have played two or three times with him. Usually, when we shared the same stage, which happened once in a while, he would always tell me, “You got to stick around and come and play with me.” But officially, on records or stuff like that, we never recorded or toured together. That wasn’t the case.


I have posted the full interview online at http://www.wideospaces.com/peter/folk_r ... bireli.htm along with some photos from his Gypsy Project tours.

- Peter

Phil

Peter - thanks so much for posting that, that was brilliant, how great for you to have met Bireli, Cheers, Phil

Captain Swing

Jimmy played with Grappelli when he was youngster as well.

a

i think he was around downtown nyc in the 80s, because i've met several people who claim to have know him or say they played with him.