Born in Tananarive in 1958, heir to a long line of artists, Tony Rabeson began playing drums in Madagascar, accompanying his father and uncle from whom he learned the whole tradition.
He spent part of his youth on Reunion Island, and moved to Paris in the 1980s, where he immediately rubbed shoulders with the greatest masters, notably Kenny Clarke, Sam Woodyard and Philly Joe Jones, and was soon in demand by all the big names in jazz, both national and international.
Over the course of an exceptional professional career, he has played with Toots Thielemans, Joe Lovano, Lee Konitz, Kenny Wheeler, Steve Swallow, Michel Portal, Eddy Louiss, Martial Solal, Maurice Vander, Christian Escoudé, not forgetting the companions with whom he has most often traveled and recorded over the past two decades: Henri Texier, Éric Le Lann, Olivier Hutman, Andy Emler, Louis Winsberg, Baptiste Trotignon, Mario Canonge, Bojan Z, Laurent Larcher, David Linx, Olivier Bogé, Marc Bertaux, Dimitri Douriantonis, and, of course, Lalao and Jeanot Rabeson.
His rhythmically rigorous playing and exceptional dynamic range are inspired both by the tradition of the greatest jazz masters of the 20th century, and by the amponga (drum) players of the hira gasy.
Henri Texier once said of him that "he doesn't play drums, he makes his drums sing".
