Moncef Genoud

Born in 1961 in Tunis, Tunisia, pianist Moncef Genoud was sent to Switzerland at age two for an eye operation and ended up being adopted by a family there. At six, when he started piano lessons, it was clear that Genoud had a musical gift. Though he initially started learning classical music, he also, thanks in part to his adoptive father's love of Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller, had a strong interest in jazz, which he taught himself to play. In 1987, he graduated from the conservatory in Geneva with a degree in teaching music, and by 1988 had recorded his first solo album, New York Journey. This was only the beginning of a prolific career, as in the years that followed Genoud released many more studio records, including 1989's Waiting for Birth, 1997's It's You (the same year he was selected to represent the Montreux Jazz Festival in Detroit, Atlanta, and New York), 2003's Time in Carouge, and his tenth studio album, Aqua, which came out in 2006.