Ibrahim Maalouf Biography

Ibrahim Maalouf (Arabic: ابراهيم معلوف‎) is a trumpet player and teacher, composer and arranger. He was born in Beirut, Lebanon, and now lives in Paris, France.

Maalouf was born into a family of intellectuals and artists; he is the son of trumpeter Nassim Maalouf and pianist Nada Maalouf, nephew of the writer Amin Maalouf and grandson of journalist, poet and musicologist Rushdi Maalouf. He is noted for playing Arabic music with quarter tones on the trumpet, which is a rare skill, pioneered by his father and Don Ellis in the 1960s.

Maalouf has also earned prizes in the major classical trumpet competitions in the world. In July 2010, he was awarded the Instrumental Revelation of the Year at the French Jazz Music Awards (Victoires du Jazz), and more recently was awarded Best World Music Artist at the French Music Awards in 2014.

Ibrahim has composed also several movie soundtracks, (Yves Saint Laurent (Jalil Lespert) 2014; Smart Ass (Kim Chapiron) 2013), and several pieces for choirs and symphonic orchestras.

After winning international classical music competitions, Ibrahim was well known for playing and recording with renown artists from different styles of music: Sting, Salif Keita, Amadou & Mariam, Lhasa de Sela, Marcel Khalifa, Vanessa Paradis, Juliette Greco, Archie Shepp,...

He released 5 albums on his own label. 2007: Diasporas / 2009: Diachronism / 2011: Diagnostic / 2012 "WIND" featuring Saxophonist Mark Turner, Bass Player Larry Grenadier and Drummer Clarence Penn. And his last album "Illusions" released in 2013 has reached the 1st place of the top jazz Charts in France for more than 4 months.

Ibrahim teaches improvisation at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Paris. (Paris Regional Superieur Conservatory).