Pierre Durand

Pierre Durand (guitar, compositions) Pierre Durand is a French jazz guitarist whose music moves freely across borders, eras and musical traditions. He took up guitar at the age of five after discovering the music of Atahualpa Yupanqui. He first studied European classical music, including works by Heitor Villa-Lobos, before falling for the blues at fifteen. At eighteen, jazz became his vocation. For Durand, jazz is an open language: a meeting point between improvisation and musical cultures from around the world. His guitar playing brings together West African and Indian influences with blues, swing, rock, pop and hip-hop-inflected rhythms. He has released three albums under his own name and is working on a project planned to span seven records. Each album explores a different side of jazz while retaining his own distinct voice. His third album, The End & The Beginning, was nominated for a Victoire du Jazz award in 2024. Committed to music’s social and collective power, Durand performs in prisons and teaches at the Conservatoire of Paris’s 20th arrondissement, in a priority education area. He also performed in the musical production In Situ alongside Joël Jouanneau and Cécile Garcia Fogel. His collaborators include Archie Shepp, Famoudou Don Moye, Amina Claudine Myers, Henri Texier, Daniel Humair, the Orchestre National de Jazz, John Hollenbeck, Tim Berne, Daniel Zimmermann, Émile Parisien, Vincent Peirani, Joce Mienniel, Sylvain Rifflet, Sébastien Texier and Anne Paceo.