Ibrahim Maalouf

In the spheres of modern jazz, classical crossovers, and motion-picture scoring, Ibrahim Maalouf occupies a prominent position. Recognized among the leading trumpeters of his era, his integrations of pop, soul, electro, hip-hop, French chanson, and Lebanese-rooted traditional forms have produced more than two dozen well-received albums along with original music for over twenty films. Maalouf maintains a reputation as a sought-after collaborator, having appeared onstage and on record with Sting, Vanessa Paradis, and Jon Batiste. Early releases that reached the charts, among them Diasporas in 2007, Wind in 2012, and Illusions in 2013, brought him international visibility. The 2014 project Au Pays d'Alice..., created with Malian rapper Oxmo Puccino, also registered on charts. Red & Black Light entered France's Top Ten the following year; simultaneously, his score for Yves Saint Laurent earned a Cesar Awards nomination for best music. He supplied the soundtrack for Naomi Kawase's Radiance, which garnered festival honors in 2017, and issued Dalida, a homage to the Egyptian-born Italian vocalist featuring Melody Gardot and Rokia Traore among its singers. Levantine Symphony No. 1, an extended crossover jazz and classical composition, appeared in 2018. Maalouf then delivered the expansive Latin-jazz and vocal set S3NS together with three film scores, one of which accompanied the award-winning Who You Think I Am. Forty Melodies, a double-disc career retrospective performed in duets with longtime guitarist François Delporte and additional guests, reached listeners in November 2020.

Born in Beirut during 1980 to pianist mother and renowned trumpeter father Nassim Maalouf, young Ibrahim escaped with his family to the Paris suburbs amid the Lebanese Civil War. Encouraged by his parents' musical environment, he took up the trumpet and classical Arabic repertoire at age seven on a four-valve microtonal instrument devised by his father to accommodate quarter tones of Middle Eastern modes. Throughout his teenage years he joined his father in performances of Vivaldi, Purcell, and Albinoni across Europe and the Middle East. After a favorably received reading of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, widely viewed as among the trumpet's most demanding classical works, French trumpeter Maurice Andre urged him to forgo a scientific path and pursue music professionally. During five years of study at CNR and CNSM de Paris, Maalouf refined his technique through numerous European and international contests while contributing to recordings by Matthieu Chedid, Arthur H, and Vincent Delerm. From 1999 to 2003 he secured prizes in fifteen global competitions, among them first place at the Hungarian International Trumpet Competition and the National Trumpet Competition in Washington, D.C.

Maalouf joined the trumpet faculty at CNR of Aubervilliers-La Courneuve in 2006 and frequently conducted master classes and recitals throughout the United States. Drawing upon Arab figures Oum Kalsoum and Fairuz, composers Mahler and Mozart, and jazz icons Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, he launched his debut studio album Diasporas on his Mi'ster imprint in 2007, the same year Christophe Trahand's documentary Souffle! profiled him. He followed with the charting Diachronism in 2009 and was invited by Sting to record on If on a Winter's Night.

At the 2010 Victoires du Jazz awards Maalouf received the Instrumental Revelation of the Year honor. Diagnostic entered France's Top 100 the next year, marking his initial national chart entry. Momentum accelerated thereafter. Wind became his first album to appear across Europe and attract attention from American jazz writers in 2012, while Illusions reached France's Top 40 and registered in five additional European territories during 2013. That year he also composed the score for Jalil Lespert's worldwide success Yves Saint Laurent, again nominated at the César Awards, and released Au Pays d'Alice... with Oxmo Puccino, which climbed to number 43 in France.

Two charting albums emerged in 2015. Kalthoum offered a jazz treatment of Oum Kalthoum's "Alf Leila Wa Leila" ("A Thousand and One Nights") performed by a quintet comprising pianist Frank Woeste, drummer Clarence Penn, bassist Larry Grenadier, and tenor saxophonist Mark Turner, peaking at number 17 in France and charting elsewhere in Europe. Red & Black Light, a contemporary jazz-funk release, attained number eight in France and crossed both the Atlantic and Pacific. Maalouf's score for Sepideh Farsi's 2014 film Red Rose likewise became commercially available that year.

Two years afterward he honored Egyptian-born Italian singer Dalida with a namesake album featuring vocalists Melody Gardot, Rokia Traore, Thomas Dutronc, Izïa, and Alain Souchon. He additionally scored three films, including In the Forests of Siberia, and issued La Vache, a collaboration with Turkey's Haïdouti Orkestar. He further composed the music for Naomi Kawase's Radiance, winner of the Cannes jury prize for best film.

During 2018 Maalouf maintained an intense schedule, releasing the internationally praised Levantine Symphony No. 1, scored for orchestra and choir and fusing classical, jazz, Middle Eastern, and film idioms. He also supplied soundtracks for Claus Drexel's documentary America, Mark Wilson's Wade in the Water, and Ounie Lecomte's Je Vous Souhaite d’être Follement Aimee, plus a deluxe concert album 14.12.16: Live in Paris that included appearances by Oxmo Puccino and Amadou & Miriam.

On S3NS in 2019 Maalouf rendered a multi-genre tribute to his Latin influences and colleagues. Long connected with Latino artists Raul Paz, Ernesto Tito Puentes, Angel Parra, Omar Sosa, Ibeyi, and the late Mexican singer-songwriter Lhasa de Sela, the nine-track collection blended Afro-Cuban elements with rock, pop, and jazz, spotlighting Cuban pianists Alfredo Rodriguez, Harold Lopez-Nussa, and Roberto Fonseca alongside saxophonist Irving Acao and violinist-vocalist Yilian Cañizares. It attained number two on French radio charts and entered the Top 20 on digital streaming platforms. That same year he delivered scores for Mohamed Hamidi's Jusqu'ici Tout Va Bien, noted for its contemporary jazz, funk, and soul synthesis, and a classically oriented score for Safy Nebbou's award-winning vehicle for Juliette Binoche, Who You Think I Am.

Maalouf created his most unconventional score in 2020 for Hamidi's Une Belle Equipe, an orchestral and marching-band tapestry incorporating Latin, Spanish, Cuban, and Middle Eastern lines over hip-hop rhythms. In the autumn he unveiled 40 Melodies to mark his fortieth birthday. Functioning simultaneously as career overview and stripped-down return to fundamentals, the two-disc, forty-three-track collection was realized entirely in duo format. Although primary partner François Delporte appeared throughout, the set also united Maalouf with Jon Batiste, Marcus Miller, Kronos Quartet, Arturo Sandoval, Trilok Gurtu, Sting, and Richard Bona.