Vincent Peirani was born on April 24, 1980, in Nice, and is one of the leading jazz accordionists in France. He began on the accordion as a child, the son of a musician, and entered the Nice conservatoire, where he also studied clarinet and solfège. Between 1994 and 1998 he collected prizes in classical accordion competitions, among them the Conservatoire de Paris prize for classical accordion in 1998, and he turned to jazz that same year. In 2000 he won first prizes in jazz and in music theory and jazz harmony, and from 2001 he studied jazz and improvisation at the Conservatoire de Paris with, among others, Daniel Humair, Dré Pallemaerts, Hervé Sellin, Patrick Moutal, François Théberge, Riccardo Del Fra and Glenn Ferris. In 2003 he won first prize at the national jazz competition at La Défense with the saxophonist Vincent Lê Quang, and he graduated with distinction in June 2004.

His first jazz recording was made in 2003 with the European Jazz Youth Orchestra, and through the 2000s he worked in Paris with Michel Portal, Daniel Humair, Louis Sclavis, Renaud Garcia-Fons, François Jeanneau, Denis Colin, Anne Paceo and others. Discogs credits him on accordion on records by Jean-Philippe Muvien (2006) and the Olivier Calmel Quartet (2007), and on Sanseverino's Aux Bouffes du Nord (2008) and Roberto Alagna's Sicilien Live (2009). His own first records were Mélosolex (2008, billed to the group of that name), Gunung Sebatu (2010, with Vincent Lê Quang) and, with the cellist François Salque, EST (2010) and Tanguillo (2013). From 2011 he played regularly in the quartet of the Korean vocalist Youn Sun Nah, and he is the accordionist on her ACT album Lento (2013).

The ACT label gave him an international platform. Vagabond (2012) was a trio record with the bassist Lars Danielsson and the guitarist Ulf Wakenius, and Thrill Box (2013) paired him with the pianist Michael Wollny and the bassist Michel Benita, with Michel Portal and Émile Parisien as guests. In 2013 he received the Prix Django-Reinhardt, and in 2014 the Victoires du Jazz named him French instrumental revelation of the year (the Frank Ténot prize). Belle Époque (2014), a duo record with the soprano saxophonist Émile Parisien, and the quintet album Living Being (2015), with Parisien, the keyboardist Tony Paeleman, the bassist Julien Herné and the drummer Yoann Serra, followed, and in 2015 he took the Victoires du Jazz award for French instrumental artist or ensemble of the year. He was made a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2016. Tandem (2016) with Wollny, Out of Land (2017, with Parisien, Wollny and the vocalist Andreas Schaerer) and Living Being II - Night Walker (2018) kept him on ACT; the last of these earned him a Victoires du Jazz award in 2019 as album sensation of the year. In 2017 he also played the accordionist Roland Romanelli in Mathieu Amalric's film Barbara.

Since 2018 his projects have branched out. Debussy ... et le jazz (2018) paired the Quatuor Debussy with a group of jazz soloists that included Jacky Terrasson, and Itinéraire (2018, Alpha Classics) is a record by the Quatuor Voce with Vincent Ségal, Kinan Azmeh and Peirani among the guests. So Quiet (2019) is a song duo with the singer Serena Fisseau, Abrazo (2020) a second duo record with Parisien, and Jokers (2022) a trio with the guitarist Federico Casagrande and the drummer Ziv Ravitz, later documented on Jokers - Live at Bimhuis. With the kora player Ballaké Sissoko, the cellist Vincent Ségal and Parisien he made Les Égarés (2023) and Sou Kora (2025), and Living Being IV - Time Reflections appeared in September 2025. In 2025 he also joined the pianist Stefano Bollani's quintet, with the bassist Larry Grenadier, the drummer Jeff Ballard and the percussionist Mauro Refosco. His own website lists Living Being IV concerts in Lisbon, Porto and Antony for late November 2026 and a Jokers date in Faro on November 28, 2026.

Peirani plays the accordion, which the English Wikipedia entry specifies as the bayan, the chromatic button instrument, and he also plays the accordina and sings. French Wikipedia describes his field as contemporary jazz with excursions into classical music, French song, thrash metal, tango and Macedonian music, and his conservatoire background shows in a precise classical technique that he carries into improvised settings. Living Being, his working quintet, was described by a Citizen Jazz reviewer, quoting Peirani, as a rock-oriented chamber orchestra; its second album reworks pieces by Henry Purcell, Sonny & Cher and Led Zeppelin alongside originals. His duo records are among his best known: reviewers of the Wollny duo called it symbiotic and noted his impressionistic feeling for sound. He studied jazz with Daniel Humair at the Paris conservatoire and has worked with two central figures of the French improvised scene, Michel Portal and Louis Sclavis. The Victoires du Jazz recognised him three times, in 2014, 2015 and 2019, and the Académie du Jazz gave him the Prix Django-Reinhardt in 2013.