Hervé Samb

Hervé Samb
Born (1979-04-21) April 21, 1979
Rufisque, Senegal
OriginParis, France
GenresJazz, world music
OccupationsGuitarist, composer, arranger
InstrumentGuitar
Years active1990–present
LabelsEuleuk Vision, Cristal Records
Websitewww.hervesamb.com

Hervé Samb (born 21 April 1979 in Rufisque, Senegal) is a Senegalese guitarist, composer and arranger based in Paris.

He learned jazz in Dakar under the Belgian guitarist Pierre Van Dormael, moved to France in the late 1990s, and worked as a sideman and musical director before developing, under his own name, a repertoire he calls "jazz sabar", combining jazz improvisation with the rhythms of the Senegalese sabar drum. On the release of Time to Feel in 2013, the French magazine Jazz Magazine described him as one of the major revelations to have emerged from the African continent.[1]

Biography

Early years in Senegal

Samb grew up in Rufisque, on the outskirts of Dakar. He began playing guitar at nine and recorded a first album at eleven with the band Force 5.[2]

He discovered jazz through Pierre Van Dormael, the Belgian guitarist then teaching at the Dakar conservatory, with whom he studied weekly for three years.[3] At fourteen he formed the Hervé Samb Quintet and performed at the Saint-Louis Jazz Festival, sharing the bill with Lucky Peterson.[2]

Career in France

After settling in Paris in the late 1990s, Samb first worked as a sideman with Boney Fields, then with Amadou & Mariam, with whom he made his first international tour.[4] He went on to work with David Murray, the World Saxophone Quartet, Meshell Ndegeocello and Jimmy Cliff.[4][5] He also spent time in Chicago and New York City. Besides Van Dormael, he cites the kora players Noumoucounda Cissoko and Ablaye Cissoko among his influences.[6]

From the 2010s he served as musical director on albums by Omar Pène, Lisa Simone, the American singer Toni Green and Somi.[4][6] He produced and arranged Omar Pène's album Climat (2021), recorded between Dakar and Paris.[7]

Jazz sabar

Beginning with Teranga, recorded in Dakar in 2016 and released in 2018,[8] Samb developed a repertoire he calls "jazz sabar", built on the meeting of the rhythms of the sabar — a traditional Senegalese drum — with the harmonic vocabulary of jazz. He has summarised the idea as jazz that speaks Wolof.[9][10][11]

Benn, his first entirely solo record, appeared in 2021. It was composed during the Covid-19 lockdown, and the project was suggested to him by Somi, with whom he had worked for several years.[12] One track, "Afrotopia", takes its title from the essay of the same name by Felwine Sarr.[6]

Jolof (2023), recorded with his Teranga Band, continued the approach on acoustic guitar throughout.[13][14] Writing in Le Monde, Fabien Mollon considered that Samb and his band take up the codes of the sabar tradition while bringing to them a spirit of freedom drawn from blues and jazz.[11]

Discography

Albums as leader

  • Cross Over (2009, Cristal Records / Euleuk Vision)
  • Time to Feel (2013, Euleuk Vision) — four stars in Jazz Magazine/Jazzman[1]
  • Teranga (2018, Cristal Records, CR270) — recorded at Studio La Factory, Dakar, in May 2016, with guest appearances by Adiouza, Souleymane Faye, Daara J, Mike Ladd and Ndiouga Dieng[8]; reviewed in Songlines[15]
  • Benn (2021, Euleuk Vision / Absilone) — his first entirely solo album; the title means "one" in Wolof, and the record was written during the Covid-19 lockdown over weekly sessions across two months[12][6][16]
  • Jolof (2023, Euleuk Vision / Absilone) — awarded a "CHOC" by Jazz Magazine[13]; reviewed in Songlines[17]

Duo and group projects

  • Solos – Duos, with Pierre Van Dormael (2008)
  • Kharit, duo with percussionist Daniel Moreno (2011)
  • Sawadu, trio with Brice Wassy (drums, vocals, percussion) and Hubert Dupont (bass) (2010, Ultrack, UTK 1001)[18]
  • With the Volunteered Slaves, the band led by saxophonist Olivier Temime: The Day After (2013) and Ripcord (2017, Cristal Records)[19]
  • With Nicolas Kummert Voices: One (2010) and Liberté (2014, Prova Records)[20]
  • With Aziz Sahmaoui & University of Gnawa: University of Gnawa (2011) and Mazal (2014, World Village)[21]
  • The Optimist, with the Toine Thys Trio (2019, Igloo Records)[22]
  • 4 Worlds, quartet with Danish violinist Line Kruse, bassist Gilles Coquard and Guadeloupean drummer Arnaud Dolmen (2026, Continuo Jazz)[23]

Selected appearances as sideman

Recognition


References

  1. 1 2 Lorraine Soliman (October 2013). "Hervé Samb — Time To Feel". Jazz Magazine/Jazzman (in French). No. 654.
  2. 1 2 "Hervé Samb". Afrisson (in French). Retrieved 8 August 2026.
  3. ↑ "Interview Pierre Van Dormael". Citizen Jazz (in French). 2003.
  4. 1 2 3 "Hervé Samb, Part 1: A Guitar Legend You Didn't Know You Knew". Afropop Worldwide. 8 October 2025.
  5. ↑ "Herve Samb". All About Jazz.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Eva Sauphie (14 October 2021). "Hervé Samb, le virtuose du jazz sabar". Le Point (in French).
  7. ↑ "Au Sénégal, Omar Pène chante le climat". 4'33 Magazine (in French). 14 July 2021.
  8. 1 2 "Teranga / Hervé Samb — bibliographic record". Catalogue général, Bibliothèque nationale de France (in French). Retrieved 8 August 2026.
  9. ↑ "Le jazzman Hervé Samb répond à l'appel du sabar". Le Quotidien (in French). 27 February 2018.
  10. ↑ "Le jazzman sénégalais Hervé Samb répond à l'appel du sabar". Jeune Afrique (in French). 26 February 2018.
  11. 1 2 Fabien Mollon (1 March 2023). "Voix du Sénégal : la sélection musicale du « Monde Afrique » #140". Le Monde (in French).
  12. 1 2 Jacques Denis (17 November 2021). "Hervé Samb, l'âge du solo". Pan African Music (in French).
  13. 1 2 Félix Marciano (February 2023). "Hervé Samb — Jolof". Jazz Magazine (in French).
  14. ↑ "Jazz Sabar, l'empreinte d'Hervé Samb et son Teranga Band". RFI Musique (in French). 1 March 2023.
  15. ↑ "Teranga". Songlines.
  16. ↑ Joe Farmer (6 October 2021). "Le Jazz de Joe : Hervé Samb". RFI Musique (in French).
  17. ↑ "Jolof". Songlines.
  18. ↑ "Sawadu / Hervé Samb — bibliographic record". Catalogue général, Bibliothèque nationale de France (in French). Retrieved 8 August 2026.
  19. ↑ "Volunteered Slaves". Citizen Jazz (in French).
  20. ↑ "Nicolas Kummert Voices". nicolaskummert.com.
  21. ↑ "Mazal". Songlines.
  22. ↑ "Toine Thys Trio — The Optimist". Igloo Records.
  23. ↑ Christophe Jenny (15 May 2026). "4 Worlds – Kruse / Samb / Coquard / Dolmen, 2026". Notes bleues et nuits blanches (in French).
  24. ↑ "Gwotet". Médiathèque, Philharmonie de Paris (in French). Retrieved 8 August 2026.
  25. ↑ Jim Santella (4 July 2007). "World Saxophone Quartet: Political Blues". All About Jazz.
  26. ↑ Thom Jurek. "The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams — Review". AllMusic.
  27. ↑ "Sabaly — Cheick Tidiane Seck". Médiathèque Nouvelle (in French). Retrieved 8 August 2026.
  28. ↑ "Touré Kunda, retour sur la scène française". RFI Musique (in French). 1 April 2008.
  29. ↑ "Seya — Oumou Sangaré". Réseau des médiathèques Grand-Orly Seine Bièvre (in French). Retrieved 8 August 2026.
  30. ↑ "All is well / Lisa Simone — bibliographic record". Catalogue général, Bibliothèque nationale de France (in French). Retrieved 8 August 2026.
  31. ↑ "Salif Keïta, un demi-siècle d'engagement". RFI Musique (in French). 3 February 2019.
  32. 1 2 "Best Jazz Vocal Album — 2021". Grammy.com. Recording Academy.
  33. ↑ "AUDELCO noms named for 50th golden anniversary awards". New York Amsterdam News. 17 November 2022.
  34. ↑ "2022 Nominees". AUDELCO.
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