Pierre Vaiana
- Instruments : Soprano saxophone, Composer
- Date of birth : 14/10/1955 - Genk
Pierre Vaiana is a specialist of the soprano saxophone, on which he has developed a unique, warm and instantly recognizable sound.
He leads numerous artistic projects around the theme of dialogue between cultures and encounters.
His most recent project, “Camera Obscura”, released on the Igloo label on 8/11/2024, showcases his latest compositions.
He started out in Liège at the age of 15 under the benevolent eye of Jacques Pelzer, then studied at the Conservatoire de Liège, the IACP in Paris and Long Island University in New York, where he settled from 1986 to 1990, studying with Joe Lovano. His perpetual search for the roots of jazz and its musical inspirations soon took him to Africa, where he lived (in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso) from 1995 to 2000. He then explored the Mediterranean roots of his personal heritage through the “Funduq” project, highlighting the last singers of the Sicilian carting tradition, of which his grandfather was a member.
Dialogue between cultures is at the heart of his preoccupations, and he travels extensively around the world to set up training structures through exchange projects that have taken him along the roads of the DRC, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Haiti, Vietnam, Chile and many other countries. He plays in American pianist Kyle Schafer's “Tunisian Vibes” project with Malek Lakhoua on drums, and has been a member of the “L'Âme des Poètes” trio with Jean-Louis Rassinfosse for thirty years.
