Vincent Peirani

Born in 1980 in Nice, French accordionist and composer Vincent Peirani has developed his musical language between contemporary jazz, popular music and the classical tradition. Trained first at the Nice conservatory and later at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique in Paris, he established himself in the early 2000s on the Paris scene as a sideman with jazz and improvised-music artists before turning to projects as a leader. His first widely distributed album under his own name, 'Thrill Box' (2013), began a sustained collaboration with the ACT label and set the foundations for an aesthetic in which the accordion fulfils melodic, harmonic and rhythmic roles. He continued this trajectory with 'Living Being' (2015) and 'Living Being II (Night Walker)' (2017), exploring flexible group formats and arrangements that intersect chamber-music, rock and chanson influences. At the same time, a regular duo with saxophonist Émile Parisien and various small-ensemble projects, notably with pianist Michael Wollny, placed him in a network of European collaborations across jazz clubs, festivals and contemporary music stages. With 'Jokers' (2020) he extended this work into hybrid repertoires, blending original compositions and reimagined covers in an approach that is highly composed yet leaves ample space for collective improvisation.