YACINE BOULARES saxophonist, composer
Yacine Boulares is a French-Tunisian saxophonist, clarinetist and composer based in New York.
After graduating with a BA in Philosophy Yacine Boulares decides to take a year off to respond to the urge to play music. He takes his first music lessons and after studying under Andre Villeger for 3 years he wins the Esprit Jazz Festival Competition in Paris and is endorsed by Selmer saxophones (2006) A year later he enters the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris where his horizons broaden under the influence of peers and mentors such as Riccardo Del Fra and Francois Theberge. He soon understands the necessity to go to the roots of Jazz and in 2009 he is granted a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary music on a merit scholarship.
In New York, the dream of meeting and playing with his idols becomes true and Yacine gets to learn from Chris Cheek, Donny Mc Caslin, Reggie Workman and with countless musicians who inspire him daily. But New York also exposes him to a myriad of different musics. Soon he is part of ex Fela Kuti' drummer Jojo Kuo' Afrobeat Collective, of late Cameroonian singer Martino Atangana's African Blue Note, of Haitian Kompa legends Tabou Combo. In their musics, he finds a deep echo to his North African roots and the Bikutsi rhythms from Cameroon become reminiscent of the trance rhythms and musics from Tunisia.
These influences urge him to find his own identity and his explorations of Cameroonian dance rhythms lead to the creation of the band AJOYO, a mystic brew of African tradition, jazz and soul. Yacine signs the music and lyrics of a repertoire that celebrates life, love and justice. The album is released in 2015 on Ropeadope Records and played on radios throughout the world from New Yorks' WNYC to French RFI, London's Jazz FM, National radio in Brazil, South Africa, Nigeria...
In the meantime, Yacine continues to play as a sideman both in the jazz repertoire with the likes of Sheila Jordan, Theo Bleckman and Becca Stevens and for various projects such as Japanese singer/songwriter Senri Oe (3 albums for Sony Japan).
In 2014 he is part of an intimate band picked by producer and arranger Robert Sadin to accompany Opera legend Placido Domingo on his remarkable record Encanto Del Mar. Yacine is featured both as a soloist and arranger of the Andalucian standard Lamma Bada and gets the chance to work closely with Ira Coleman, Mark Feldman, Rhani Khridja, Chico Pinheiro and Bridget Kibbey. This is also where he meets cellist Vincent Segal and gets the idea to explore the tunisian Stambeli repertoire with Vincent on cello and drummer Nasheet Waits.
In 2015 this project is granted the French American Jazz Exchange. The trio album will be recorded and released in 2017 with the French label Accords Croises.
Concurrently to his activities as a performer and a composer, Yacine teaches song-writing at the French Heritage Language Program. In 2014 he is commissioned to compose a Musical telling the story of underserved French speaking African and Haitian communities in the USA. The show Amidou & Toya was premiered in NY in May 2014. Yacine is a D'Addario woodwinds and Lebayle Mouthpieces artist.
DISCOGRAPHY
TRUE STORY - Onde Music 2017
Ben Rando | piano, composition, production Sarah Elizabeth Charles | voice, texts
Yacine Boularès | saxophones Federico Casagrande | guitar Sam Favreau - bass
Cédrick Bec - drums
ABU SADIYA - Accords Croises 2017
Yacine Boulares soprano saxophone & bass clarinet
Vincent Segal cello & percussions
Nasheet Waits drums
AJOYO - Ropeadope Records 2015
Produced by Yacine Boulares & Jacques Schwarz-Bart
Sarah Elizabeth Charles, Linton Smith, Alon Albagli, Can Olgun, , Foluso Mimy,Guilhem Flouzat, Fred Doumbe, Thierry Arpino
Produced by Robert Sadin.
Ira Coleman, Chico Pinheiro, Mark Feldman, Bridget Kibbey, Vincent Segal, Yacine Boulares, Patrick Messina, Cyro Baptista, Rhani Khrija...
Hyungjin Choi piano
Pablo Menares bass
Takuya Kuroda Trumpet
Uri Gurvish alto sax
Alex Wyatt drums
Yacine Boulares soprano/tenor sax
Olivier Laisney trumpet
Yacine Boulares tenor sax
Benjamin Rando piano
Simon Tailleu double bass
Cedrick Bec drums
Senri Oe -piano & compositions
Etienne Charles: Trumpet Adrian Cunningham- tenor sax/clarinet
Jaleel Shaw: alto sax Yacine Boulares- soprano sax
Jim Robertson-bass Reggie Quinerly-drums
Luis Bonilla- trombone Daniel Barnidge-arrangements
FRANKY ROUSSEAU LARGE BAND
Austin Peralta – piano (featured) Trumpets
Arthur Hnatek – drums Ari Bragi Karason
Michael Valeanu – guitar Simon Millerd
Matt Rousseau – bass Cody Rowlands
Colin Fairbank – keyboard Sam Neufeld Carou Johnson
Trombones Woodwinds
Gabriel Gagnon Yacine Boulares
Kurtis Muller Levon Henry
Raymond Carruthers Ilia Skibinsky
Felix Del Tredici Dillon Baiocchi Sayre Schultz