About Me
Born in the Ivory Coast (West Africa), Azouhouni Adou began his musical career early on accompanying some of most the well-known and respected Ivorian artists, such as Ernesto Djedje and Alpha Blondy. In 1984 he moved to Paris to study jazz composition and improvisation and played keyboard for Afro-pop stars such as Abetti Massekini, Pierre Akendenge, Oumou Sangaré, Pascal Lokoua, Tony Allen, Meiway, and Cheb Kaleb. Since 1992, Azhouhouni has lived in the United States. His US career began in Denver, Colorado, where he continued his band Adu, playing in venues alongside such jazz greats as Tito Puente, John Lee Hooker, Terence Blanchard, Herbie Mann, and Rickie Lee Jones, and played keys with a US-army jazz band touring Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, UAI, and Diego Garcia. In 1995, Azouhouni moved to New York where he immediately became widely recognized as a leading innovator in the City's African music culture and beyond. He has performed in venues such as the Lincoln Center, Summer Stage, Celebrate Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, SOB's, the Zinc Bar, Satalla, Joe's Pub, and Sugar Bar. As Musical Director, Azouhouni spent two years (1998-2000) at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Florida with the Harambe Band, and with the Pepe Kale/Rigo Star Tour in Oakland, California. An accomplished studio producer and arranger by age twenty, Azouhouni has produced CDs for Ivoirian artists such as Adeliz, Dan Log, Bennie Bezy, and Jonny Zoug, and Malian sinmger Djoss Diabaté. He produced and released two albums of his own; Lago (JBZ Studios, 1989) and Worrro (JBZ Studios, 1991) . "Afroyorkers" is the latest project of this innovative keyboardist who is stepping ahead in New York with his own ensemble. Afroyorkers presents Azouhouni’s fresh and sophisticated urban style of original compositions and Afrobeat classics that is quickly making new ground in the history of African popular music.www.Afroyorkers.com
