WAJDI RIAHI TRIO

Pianist Wajdi Riahi is a cannon, a comet within Belgian jazz, both alongside Stéphane Galland (Aka Moon) and with his own music. With his Trio, he presents warm-blooded jazz that he fuses with his Tunisian roots. Their second album Essia is a beauty of a calling card, with North African stambeli and gnawa-traditions forming the basis for a sound full of narrative power. The album is a musical collection of stories, with original angles and ideas woven into a clever overall work.

The music of Riahi, bassist Basile Rahola and drummer Pierre Hurty is an adventurous journey. The organic architecture of North African rhythms blends seamlessly with the ingenuity of jazz.  It is also a personal statement, which you can hear in the way free melodies and Arabic songs are constructed and combined. And Riahi sings! The Trio plays poetically, with precision and dynamics, but also thoughtfully, with soul and character. The result is intoxicating and true to the loose definition of jazz as ‘the sound of surprise’.