He was noted for a musical style that incorporated Russian and Hungarian influences and lived long enough to see a resurgence of interest in gypsy jazz in which he was recognised as one of the great surviving players of the genre.

Two of his sons, Boulou and Elios Ferré, continue to play a more modern and individualistic form of gypsy jazz-based guitar music in Paris.

[citation needed] At that time, Django and his companions frequently played at the Russian cabarets in Paris, notably the Casanova and the Shéhérazade and, while Django moved away into a more jazz direction for the major part of his career, Ferret spent much of his subsequent time in the Russian cabarets and developed a unique guitar style incorporating many Russian and Romanian Romani elements as well as musette-style waltzes and jazz.

[citation needed] After recording as a sideman on various sessions in the 1930s and early 40s, his first sessions under his own name were cut in 1944 (as "Jean Ferret et son Sixtette"); he recorded sporadically through the 1950s and 1960s (including notable guitar contributions to the famous "Manouche Partie" LP) and summed up his life's work with the 2-LP set Tziganskaïa recorded for Charles Delaunay in 1978 (re-released on CD along with 4 unrecorded waltzes by Django Reinhardt which Ferret recorded in 1960) on which he was accompanied by his son Boulou on rhythm guitar, along with cimbalom (a favourite instrument of the Tzigane gypsy style) and double bass.

Ferret died of cancer on 24 January 1989, aged 70, a contemporary of Django who survived long enough to see the revival of interest in gypsy jazz and related music and to leave several modern filmed performances.