Tarek Yamani Trio

“Afro-Arabic Jazz Conceptions”

Tarek Yamani’s critically acclaimed album “Lisan Al Tarab: Jazz Conceptions in Classical Arabic” is an exploration of classical Arabic music within the frameworks of Jazz. The result, a genre often dubbed as “Afro-Tarab” is a performance which will take the audience on a journey from early 1900’s Egypt to contemporary New York. The repertoire will include reinterpretations of classical Arabic “muwashahat” (an old musical form), as well as original compositions based on edgy traditional Arabic rhythms and melodic modes.

Winner of the prestigious „Thelonious Monk Int’l Jazz Composers Competition“ for his composition „Sama’i Yamani“, Tarek has been part of three all-star global concerts of International Jazz Day and shared the stage with luminaries such as Wayne Shorter, Richard Bona, Zakir Hussein, Esperanza Spalding, Antonio Sanchez, Brian Blade and Vinnie Coliauta.

He has performed around the world in venues such as the Smithsonian Institute (Washington, DC), Barcelona Cathedral at La Merce (Spain), David Rubenstein Atrium (Lincoln Center, NY), Boulez Saal (Berlin), Dizzy’s Cub Coca Cola (Jazz at Lincoln Center), MuCEM museum (FR), the United Nations Assembly Hall (NY), Gran Teatro de la Habana (Cuba), Melbourne Arts Center, New York University (Abu Dhabi Festival), the Blue Whale (Los Angeles), the Detroit Institute of Arts, New Morning (Paris), Aaron Davis Hall (NY), and King’s Place (UK) to name a few.

Tarek is also an educator, author of two self-published music books on rhythm and a film score composer of films screened in 70+ festivals around the world and broadcasted on AMC network, BBC and Sundance TV. Tarek also writes essays observing relationships between science and music as he self-published two educational books about rhythm and wrote scores for films screened in 100+ festivals around the world and broadcasted on AMC network, BBC and Sundance TV.

Igor Spallati – born in Italy in 1985, he began playing double bass at the age of 19 and studied classical double bass in Italy with Silvio Bruni and Franco Petracchi. In 2010 he moved to Berlin to study at the „Jazz Institut Berlin“ under the guidance of Greg Cohen, John Hollenbeck, Kurt Rosenwinkel and others. Among others, he has worked with icons of jazz such as Joe Chambers, Billy Hart, Nasheet Waits, Jorge Rossy, Fred Hersch, Ethan Iverson, Ambrose Akinmusire, Lewis Nash, Elias Stemeseder, Jay Anderson, Ronnie Burrage, Pietro Tonolo, Gabriele Mirabassi, Dado Moroni, Joe Hisaishi, Louis Bacalov and the HR BigBand.

Ugo Alunni – is a percussionist from Perugia, Italy. He attended the Conservatorio di Musica „Francesco Morlacchi“ in Perugia (2000-2004), then moved to New York to continue his studies at the Collective School of Music (2005-2006). Since 2010 he lives in Berlin, where he studied at the Jazz Institut Berlin under the direction of John Hollenbeck, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Greg Cohen and David Friedman, graduating in 2016. He has played with Rossano Emili, the Perugia Jazz Orchestra, Pietro Tonolo, Joe Chambers, Dan Kinzelman, Alessandro Lanzoni, Elias Stemeseder , Phil Donkin, Uli Kempendorff, Julia Hülsmann and many others.