Jean-Paul Bourelly is an American guitarist and innovative musician born on November 23, 1960 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. In Chicago he played in local Haitian bands and jam sessions under the guidance of saxophonists Von Freeman and studied with Bunky Green.
In New York from 1979 to 1994 he established his first group the BluWave Bandits that featured Alfredo Alias (drums) Melvin Gibbs (bass) and Kundalini Mark Batson on keyboards. During that period he appeared with musicians ranging from Elvin Jones, Roy Haynes and Pharoah Sanders to Vernon Reid, Mark Ribot, Steve Coleman and Muhal Richard Abrams.
After relocating to Europe, he founded African Boom Bop, featuring griot/singer Abdourahmane Diop with percussionist Mino Cinelu. He later started the Backroom project in Berlin’s House of World Cultures in 1999. By 2004 he was curator and musician for the Black Atlantic project at House of World Cultures.
Founder and label owner of JPGotMangos. Also formed the power trio 3kings focusing on guitar heavy jam band performance. Later, Bourelly also formed the group Citizen X featuring vocalist and poet Sadiq Bey, bassist Reggie Washington and drummer Kenny Martin and a multi-directional blues project featuring singer Dean Bowman entitled Blues Bandits. He is the father of Afro-German singer-songwriter Bibi Bourelly, writer of the triple platinum single "Bitch Better Have My Money" by Rihanna.
Other groups he founded:
The Sheba Project (Ethiopian blues)
Gypsys Reloaded (Homage to the Band of Gypsys) featured Cindy Blackman and Calvin Weston on drums and Melvin Gibbs on bass.
Vibe music trio with T.M. Stevens (bass) and John Blackwell (drums)
and another version with Félix Sabal-Lecco on drums.
Estados Unidos· Chicago