Tariqh Akoni is a performing and session guitarist and songwriter based in Los Angeles, CA. He is currently Chair of the Guitar Department at the L.A. Music Academy (succeeding Frank Gambale

Frank Gambale

Frank Gambale is an Australian jazz fusion guitarist. He has released eleven studio albums over a period of more than two decades, and is renowned for his use of the sweep picking and economy picking techniques.-Recording career:...

) as well as Musical Director for multi-platinum recording artist, Josh Groban

Josh Groban

Joshua Winslow "Josh" Groban is an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer. His four solo albums have been certified at least multi-platinum, and in 2007, he was charted as the number-one best selling artist in the United States with over 21 million records in that country...

. Akoni performs in multiple genres, including classical, flamenco, and rock.

Early years

Tariqh grew up in Santa Barbara in a home filled with music from a diversity of genres, from Carlos Santana to Mac Davis to Sly and the Family Stone. His father was a college educator and his mother was a counselor.

Berklee College of Music

Following high school, Tariqh studied contemporary classical composition at the University of California at San Diego. But his guitar passion beckoned and he made the move to Boston to attend the famous Berklee School of Music. One highlight of this experience was his private study with jazz tenor saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi

Jerry Bergonzi

Jerry Bergonzi is a jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and educator. Bergonzi received a B.A. Degree in Music Education from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and is the founder of Not Fat Records....

 and jazz guitarist Rick Peckham

Rick Peckham

Rick Peckham is the current play-by-play broadcaster for the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team. Previously, Peckham had served as the play-by-play announcer for the Hartford Whalers from 1984 through 1995. He has also broadcast NHL games on ESPN and SportsChannel America . Through 1977–84,...

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Complementing his class study was Tariqh's focused daily practicing and, importantly, his nightly playing in the clubs of Boston where he was exposed to musical genres as diverse as blues, jazz and rock. Tariqh considers this latter to be where he found his musical voice. It was from his experiences with jazz saxophonist Walter Beasley

Walter Beasley

Walter Beasley is an American saxophonist, a professor of music at the Berklee College of Music, and founder of Affable Publishing and Affable Records.-Biography:Beasley grew up in El Centro, California...

 and eminent sessions jazz saxophonist Gerald Albright

Gerald Albright

Gerald Albright is an American jazz saxophonist.Albright has sold over 1,000,000 albums in the U.S. alone. His self-produced music features him on bass guitar, keyboards, flutes, drum programming, and background vocals.- Biography :...

 that he found encouragement to pursue his musical career in Los Angeles.

Career

Tariqh assembled an extensive and eclectic resume, working with artists ranging from jazz legends George Duke

George Duke

George Duke is a multi-faceted American musician, known as a keyboard pioneer, composer, singer and producer in both jazz and popular mainstream musical genres. He has worked with numerous acclaimed artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and professor of music...

 and Tom Scott

Tom Scott (musician)

Tom Scott is an American saxophonist, composer, arranger, conductor and bandleader of the west coast jazz/jazz fusion ensemble The L.A. Express.-Biography:Scott was born in Los Angeles, California...

, to R&B icons Chaka Khan

Chaka Khan

Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...

 and Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston

Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...

, to pop sensation Backstreet Boys

Backstreet Boys

The Backstreet Boys are an American vocal group, formed in Orlando, Florida in 1993. The band originally consisted of A. J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson. They rose to fame with their debut international album, Backstreet Boys...

. Tariqh has toured nationally and internationally, most recently as the Musical Director and Conductor for Josh Groban

Josh Groban

Joshua Winslow "Josh" Groban is an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer. His four solo albums have been certified at least multi-platinum, and in 2007, he was charted as the number-one best selling artist in the United States with over 21 million records in that country...

. A select sampling of his appearances:

Select Performance and/or Recording

Josh Groban

Josh Groban

Joshua Winslow "Josh" Groban is an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer. His four solo albums have been certified at least multi-platinum, and in 2007, he was charted as the number-one best selling artist in the United States with over 21 million records in that country...

, Christina Aguilera

Christina Aguilera

Christina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...

, Elton John

Elton John

Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...

, Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock

Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...

, Patti LaBelle

Patti LaBelle

Patricia Louise Holte-Edwards , better known under the stage name, Patti LaBelle, is a Grammy Award winning American singer, author and actress who has spent over 50 years in the music industry...

, Yolanda Adams

Yolanda Adams

Yolanda Adams is an American Grammy- and Dove-award-winning Yolanda Adams is an American [[Grammy Awards|Grammy]]- and [[Dove Awards|Dove]]-award-winning...

, Luther Vandross

Luther Vandross

Luther Ronzoni Vandross was an American singer-songwriter and record producer. During his career, Vandross sold over twenty-five million albums and won eight Grammy Awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four times...

, Al Jarreau

Al Jarreau

Alwin "Al" Lopez Jarreau is a seven-time Grammy Award winning jazz singer.- Background :Jarreau was born in Milwaukee, the fifth of six children. His web site refers to Reservoir, Inc., the name of the street where he lived. His father was a Seventh-Day Adventist Church minister and singer, and...

, David Sanborn

David Sanborn

David Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school...

, Boys II Men, Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder

Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...

, Smokey Robinson

Smokey Robinson

William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is one of the primary figures associated with Motown, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy...

, Alicia Keys

Alicia Keys

Alicia Augello Cook , better known by her stage name Alicia Keys, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and occasional actress. She was raised by a single mother in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City. At age seven, Keys began playing the piano...

, Natalie Cole

Natalie Cole

Natalie Maria Cole , is an American singer, songwriter and performer. The daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, Cole rode to musical success in the mid-1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be ", "Inseparable" and "Our Love"...

, Kenny Rogers

Kenny Rogers

Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...

, Huey Lewis and the News

Huey Lewis and the News

Huey Lewis and the News is an American rock band based in San Francisco, California. They had a run of hit singles during the 1980s and early 1990s, eventually scoring a total of 19 top-ten singles across the Billboard Hot 100, Adult Contemporary and Mainstream Rock charts...

, Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin

Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...

, Toni Braxton

Toni Braxton

Toni Michelle Braxton is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Braxton has won six Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, and five Billboard Music Awards and has sold over 60 million records worldwide...

, The Temptations

The Temptations

The Temptations is an American vocal group having achieved fame as one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records. The group's repertoire has included, at various times during its five-decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music.Formed in Detroit,...

, LeAnn Rimes

LeAnn Rimes

LeAnn Rimes is an American country/pop singer. She is known for her rich vocals and her rise to fame as an eight-year-old champion on the original Ed McMahon version of Star Search, followed by the release of the Patsy Cline-intended single "Blue" when Rimes was only age 13, resulting in her...

, Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...

, Jennifer Love Hewitt

Jennifer Love Hewitt

Jennifer Love Hewitt is an American actress, producer, television director and former singer-songwriter. Hewitt began her acting career as a child by appearing in television commercials and the Disney Channel series Kids Incorporated...

, Lee Ann Womack

Lee Ann Womack

Lee Ann Womack is an American country music singer and songwriter, who is best known for her old fashioned-styled country music songs that often discuss subjects such as cheating and lost love....

, Babyface, David Benoit

David Benoit

David Benoit, is an American jazz fusion/smooth jazz pianist, composer and producer from Los Angeles, California. He has been nominated for five Grammy Awards...

, Lou Rawls

Lou Rawls

Louis Allen "Lou" Rawls was an American soul, jazz, and blues singer. He was known for his smooth vocal style: Frank Sinatra once said that Rawls had "the classiest singing and silkiest chops in the singing game"...

, Carlos Santana

Carlos Santana

Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion...

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Select Television Appearances

37th NAACP Image Awards (House Band) (2006)

48th Annual Grammy Awards (music) (2006)

ABC's Christmas in Aspen (2002)

American Idol (House Band) (2005, 2006)

American Music Awards – w/ Josh Groban (2004)

Backstreet Boys: Larger than Life - CBS Special (2001)

B.E.T. Annual Awards (2002, 2003)

B.E.T. Jazz Legends Concert

FAME (House Band) (2003)

Good Morning America (w/ Josh Groban, Christina Aguilera)

Jimmy Kimmel Live (w/ Huey Lewis and the News) (2005)

The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn (w/ Anastacia, Javier)

Late Night with Conan O’Brien (w/ Josh Groban) (2004)

Late Show with David Letterman (w/ Christina Aguilera) (2006)

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (w/ Yolanda Adams, Frankie J., Josh Groban, Backstreet Boys, Jennifer Love Hewitt)

Saturday Night Live (w/ Christina Aguilera) (2006)

MTV Movie Awards (w/ Christina Aguilera) (2006)

MTV Video Music Awards – w/ Josh Groban (2003)

PBS Great Performances: Josh Groban in Concert (2002), Live at the Greek (2004)

The Queen’s Royal Variety Performance – w/ Jennifer Lopez (2001)

Smokey Robinson Walk of Fame (House Band) (2004)

UNCF Tribute to Lou Rawls (House Band) (2003)

UNCF Tribute to Aretha Franklin (House Band) (2006)

World Music Awards – with Josh Groban (2004)

Equipment of Note

Tariqh uses a diverse set of tools, including Gibson

Gibson Guitar Corporation

The Gibson Guitar Corporation, formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently of Nashville, Tennessee, manufactures guitars and other instruments which sell under a variety of brand names...

, Tyler

James Tyler Guitars

James Tyler Guitars is a manufacturer of boutique electric guitars. The company is located near Van Nuys, California and was established in 1972. It was long regarded as LA studio musicians' "business secret", and consequently reached the public eye through studio musicians like Dan Huff, Michael...

, McPherson, Blankenship, Bogner

Bogner

Bogner is an American guitar amplifier manufacturing company founded by Reinhold Bogner in 1989 in Los Angeles, California, best known for the Shiva, Ecstasy, and Überschall guitar amplifiers.-Models:*Ecstasy 100A and 100B:...

, Eventide, Voodoo Lab, Electro-Harmonix

Electro-Harmonix

Electro-Harmonix is a New York-based company that makes high-end electronic audio processors. The company was founded by Mike Matthews in 1968. They are most famous for a series of popular guitar effects pedals introduced in the 1970s and 1990s....

, Seymour Duncan

Seymour Duncan

Seymour Duncan is a company that is best known for manufacturing of guitar pickups, and currently has a line of effects pedals. The company was founded in 1976 by guitarist and luthier Seymour W. Duncan and his then-wife Cathy Carter Duncan in Goleta, California, USA...

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