In previous recordings, his dream has always been to create a fusion of West African music and Jazz, and he achieves his goal...
—J. Poet, Downbeat
An award-winning jazz composer, guitarist and vocalist, Dr. Pascal Bokar Thiam presents a global musical banquet from his native France to his Senegalese and Malian roots. Anchored in bebop, he has performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Donald Byrd, Donald Bailey and Donald Brown.
Pascal is the “father” of the funky, jazzy, bluesy, bluegrass-y, joyous and thoroughly infectious music performed by his AfroBlueGrazz band. He has performed at more than a dozen jazz festivals around the country, including the 2024 Elk Grove Music Fest, Strawberry Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, the Kansas City Jazz & Blues Festival, the Houston International Jazz Festival and the Nashville Rocking by the River Festival.
Pascal is featured in Scott Yanow’s book, The Great Jazz Guitarists: The Ultimate Guide. An alumnus of the famed Berklee College of Music, he is the 1983 recipient of the College’s Jim Hall Jazz Master Award for guitarists, and the Outstanding Jazz Soloist Award presented by Dizzy Gillespie and James Moody. Bokar earned a Master’s Degree from Cambridge College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a Doctorate Degree in Education with honors from the University of San Francisco, where he is currently a member of the faculty.
The pinnacle of versatility, talent, and musicianship, Bokar impresses everyone with his innovative combination of musical styles culminating into the unique blend he calls AfroBlueGrazz. The name derives from combining Afro-Funk, Blues, Bluegrass and Jazz to form a completely new sound blending the familiarity heard across a multi-genre performance. Pascal Bokar, as a music composer, vocalist, and guitarist, proudly expresses the musical textures of his Senegalese and Malian roots by including fiddle, balafon, and banjo with his AfroBlueGrazz Band. This award-winning musician has made a name for himself in both the national and international music industry. His previous CD entitled Guitar Balafonic received the “One of the Best CDs of the Year” award in 2015 from Downbeat Magazine and a 4 Star review. He is also a celebrated author of books describing the cultural connections between west African traditional music and the sounds of the Mississippi Delta “The Banjo is from West Africa” with a foreword by NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston. His latest book entitled Jazz, Culture & Social Justice; Soundtrack of America’s Art Form, received very good reviews from the NYC Jazz Record magazine in March of 2024.
Pascal is the “father” of the funky, jazzy, bluesy, bluegrass-y, joyous and thoroughly infectious music performed by his AfroBlueGrazz band. He has performed at more than a dozen jazz festivals around the country, including the 2024 Elk Grove Music Fest, Strawberry Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, the Kansas City Jazz & Blues Festival, the Houston International Jazz Festival and the Nashville Rocking by the River Festival.
Pascal is featured in Scott Yanow’s book, The Great Jazz Guitarists: The Ultimate Guide. An alumnus of the famed Berklee College of Music, he is the 1983 recipient of the College’s Jim Hall Jazz Master Award for guitarists, and the Outstanding Jazz Soloist Award presented by Dizzy Gillespie and James Moody. Bokar earned a Master’s Degree from Cambridge College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a Doctorate Degree in Education with honors from the University of San Francisco, where he is currently a member of the faculty.
The pinnacle of versatility, talent, and musicianship, Bokar impresses everyone with his innovative combination of musical styles culminating into the unique blend he calls AfroBlueGrazz. The name derives from combining Afro-Funk, Blues, Bluegrass and Jazz to form a completely new sound blending the familiarity heard across a multi-genre performance. Pascal Bokar, as a music composer, vocalist, and guitarist, proudly expresses the musical textures of his Senegalese and Malian roots by including fiddle, balafon, and banjo with his AfroBlueGrazz Band. This award-winning musician has made a name for himself in both the national and international music industry. His previous CD entitled Guitar Balafonic received the “One of the Best CDs of the Year” award in 2015 from Downbeat Magazine and a 4 Star review. He is also a celebrated author of books describing the cultural connections between west African traditional music and the sounds of the Mississippi Delta “The Banjo is from West Africa” with a foreword by NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston. His latest book entitled Jazz, Culture & Social Justice; Soundtrack of America’s Art Form, received very good reviews from the NYC Jazz Record magazine in March of 2024.
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