Alune Wade

BIO

Alune Wade was personally selected by Marcus Miller in 2015 to contribute to Miller's album "Afrodeezia" - a testament to his exceptional talent. However, Wade's path to success began earlier when he was discovered by Ismaël Lô at the age of 18. Since then, he has collaborated with an impressive array of contemporary music legends and performed alongside artists such as Salif Keita, Oumou Sangaré, Bobby McFerrin, Joe Zawinul, Fatoumata Diawara, Paco Sery, Bela Fleck, Cheick Tidiane Seck, Deep Forest, and Gregory Porter. Apart from his distinctive and vibrant electric bass playing, it is his voice that, much like the West African griots, tells stories with deep emotion and touching falsetto/tonality.

Alune exudes a calm authority and intense power, creating a unique jazz experience with a sophisticated urban flair. Inspired by the bustling metropolises of Paris, New York, and Dakar, he truly embodies cosmopolitan music. As a remarkable figure in today's jazz and Afrobeat scene, Alune Wade presents his eclectic and highly creative compositions, captivating audiences on significant stages worldwide.

Alune Wade is both rooted in tradition and experimental in his approach: African rhythms serve as the foundation of his compositions, around which he masterfully and effortlessly arranges various genres that seamlessly blend into one cohesive whole. For him, the electric and double bass are natural extensions of his African roots, offering fantastic rhythmic possibilities across different genres, from classical music to jazz and global music. His masterfully played bass serves as the backbone, creating a valuable link between rhythm and harmony, infusing new vitality into the African jazz scene.

Born in June 1978 in Dakar, Senegal, Alune Wade was exposed to classical music by his father, the conductor of a symphony orchestra. At the age of 13, Alune began playing bass in local bands in Dakar, and he made his first recordings at the age of 15 in a friend's music studio. Three years later, Alune Wade auditioned for Ismaël Lô, one of the most respected musicians on the African continent, and remained with Lô for eight years.

Alune Wade's versatile and deeply rooted bass playing style has established him as a virtuoso in the African jazz scene. One of the masters who discovered Wade's talent was the late Joe Zawinul, who invited him to be part of the legendary Zawinul Syndicate. Since then, Alune Wade has served as a bassist for diverse artists like Henri Dikongué, Paco Sery, and Mokhtar Samba, to name just a few.
In 2015, Alune Wade collaborated with Cuban pianist Harold López-Nussa to create the work "Havana-Paris-Dakar" (World Village), which serves as a bridge between the home countries of these two artists. In the same year, Alune also participated in the album "Afrodeezia" with Marcus Miller.
Further albums and collaborations followed, making Alune Wade one of the most significant figures in African jazz.