Although his mother would have preferred him to be a professor, it was inevitable that Senegalese Alune Wade would go into music. His father was the bandleader of an orchestra in Dakar, and at seventeen Wade finally got a spot in it. He proved to have a real flair for the bass as well as a captivating voice. A year later, he traveled the world with Ismaël Lô, a star in Senegal. Since then, Wade has played with Salif Keita, Gregory Porter, Oumou Sangaré and Joe Zawinul, among others, and fellow bassist Marcus Miller asked him to play on his album Afrodeezia. Wade’s own latest album, Sultan, was recorded in Tunis, Paris, New York, and Senegal. On it, Wade demonstrates not only his wanderlust, but also the breadth of his focus. Musically, he connects the Middle East with West African Afrobeat, Arab-Andalusian rhythms, and American jazz.
