Nguyen Le Duos: Homescape

by John Kelman
December 22, 2006

There's no substitute for a convincing musical concept and language, but if an artist doesn't pay equal attention to tone, then that musical message can become easily diluted. The two are, in fact, inextricably linked--in particular with guitarists, who are often as well-known for the texture of their sound as the notes they play.

Guitarist Nguyên Lê has been as relentless as Pat Metheny when it comes to sound. He's no stranger to the concept of sonic manipulation and editing ...

Nguyen Le Duos: Homescape

by Chris May
April 22, 2006

Where does jazz stop and world music start? The boundaries are getting more blurred by the minute. We're all postmodernists now, and many musicians under fifty reflect a range of influences beyond those traditionally associated with their own core style. Some, like French-Vietnamese guitarist Nguyen Le, are so polyglot as to be practically beyond category.

Le started out down the cultural miscenegation road with his first band, the multi-ethnic Ultramarine, whose 1989 album, De, was named World Music Album of ...

Nguyen Le Quartet: Walking on the Tiger's Tail

by John Kelman
March 14, 2005

For his ninth record, French-Vietnamese guitarist Nguy��n L�� renews musical relationships with two artists who appeared on his first two releases--woodwind multi-instrumentalist Paul McCandless from L��'s '96 debut, Zanzibar, and pianist Art Lande, who played on the '97 record Miracles. That Lande and McCandless also share a musical friendship that dates back over thirty years makes their teaming on Walking on the Tiger's Tail that much more significant. Over the course of his career, L�� has demonstrated ...

Nguyen Le Trio: Bakida

by John Kelman
October 27, 2004

One look at the liner notes to the Nguyên Lê Trio's latest disc and you know that Bakida is not going to be your typical jazz record. While Vietnamese guitarist Lê, who now lives in France, has dabbled in a variety of styles with a penchant towards the fusion side of the camp, his international flavour is what truly defines who he is. With a trio that includes Spaniards Renaud Garcia-Fons on acoustic five-string bass and Tino di Geraldo on ...

Nguyen Le: Purple: Celebrating Jimi Hendrix

by Julian Derry
December 12, 2003

Jimi Hendrix's greatest quality was the way he engaged his audience. The warm powerful tones of his guitar playing, the near- spiritual journeys through new magical lands of guitar wizardry drew the listener in to share in an emotional embrace. Alas, elements of this Hendrix tribute album conspire to make it an impersonal, less earthy experience. Nguy��n L��'s guitar tone is not so warm. Reedy guitar-synth patches suit the angular playing better heard on his 1996 album Tales from Vietnam. ...

Nguyen Le: Purple: Celebrating Jimi Hendrix

by Todd S. Jenkins
October 23, 2003

Hallelujah, somebody got it right! One of the banes of the fusion desk is the number of Hendrix knock-offs that come across it. Whether it be an outright tribute or just someone copping a half-dozen licks, nary a guitarist seems to be able to go long without conjuring up Jimi's long-dead ghost. So the arrival of French-Vietnamese guitarist Nguyen Lé's new album came with a sense of trepidation... unfounded, as it turns out. Lé has created a nearly perfect tribute ...

Nguy: Tales from Viet-nam

by Scott Andrews
August 17, 2002

Jazz guitarist and composer Nguyen Le has played with the French National Jazz Orchestra, the WDR Big Band with composer/conductor Vince Mendoza, and with several trios he assembled himself. In Tales from Viet-nam, he set out to blend jazz fusion with traditional Vietnamese music and musicians. This project offered a cultural examination of Le's family roots, as the Paris-born child of Vietnamese parents. All but one of the nine songs on Tales from Viet-nam are written around well-known, traditional Vietnamese ...