Boulou Ferré

In 2015, Boulou Ferré, Elios Ferré and Christophe Astolfi recorded the album La Bande des trois (When jazz meets French song), released in September 2015 by Label Ouest (L'Autre distribution ).

On 10 April 2012, Boulou was made Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by Frédéric Mitterrand, French Minister of Culture.

He formed a duo with his brother Elio in 1978 under the name Ferré instead of Ferret.

In 1974 Ferré formed the Corporation Gypsy Orchestra with Steve Potts, Christian Escoudé, and pianist Takashi Kako. The group recorded for SteepleChase in 1979. He formed Trio Gitan with Escoudé and Babik Reinhardt and in 1988 with Philippe Combelle.

When he was 13, Ferré played with John Coltrane at the Jazz à Juan festival in Antibes. In 1966 he recorded the album Paris All-Stars with Michel Gaudry, Maurice Vander, and Eddy Louiss. In 1969 he gave a series of recitals at the Chat qui peche Jazz Club with saxophonist Dexter Gordon, bassist Patrice Caratini, and drummer Philly Joe Jones. In the 1970s he recorded and played with Bob Reid, Chet Baker, Steve Lacy, Gunter Hampel, Kenny Clarke, Warne Marsh, Svend Asmussen, and Louis Vola.

In 1962 Ferré enrolled at the Conservatoire de Paris, taking classes in piano, classical guitar, and organ, the latter under Olivier Messiaen. Messian was formative in Ferré's approach to classical music, counterpoint, and J. S. Bach, whose music has influenced his approach to composition. After the Conservatore, he became an organist at a Paris cathedral and developed his style of jazz improvisation and composition.

Boulou Ferré (born Jean-Jacques Ferret, 24 April 1951) is a French virtuoso jazz guitarist, composer, arranger, and improviser. He is the brother of Elios Ferré, also a jazz musician, with whom he has recorded widely. His repertoire includes jazz and classical music. He is considered one of the greatest contemporary musicians of the manouche (gypsy jazz) tradition and has contributed to the genre through his knowledge of both jazz and classical music and his interest in the contrapuntal music of J. S. Bach.