NOÉ
Originally from Geneva, Switzerland, drummer and composer Noé Tavelli (b. 1992) has grown up at the crossroads of European and American jazz traditions. He first studied with Swiss drum great Marcel Papaux at the Lausanne Conservatory of Music, graduating with a Bachelor of Music and a special prize for best jazz recital in 2015. In 2011, he attended the Drummers Collective in New York City, studying with Ian Froman and Dan Weiss.
In 2015 he moved to New York to pursue a Master of Music at the Manhattan School of Music under John Riley, Justin DiCioccio, and Jim McNeely. Along the way, he also had the privilege of studying with drummers such as Jeff Ballard, Jorge Rossy, and Eric McPherson. Since 2018 he has been based back in Switzerland, maintaining a busy international performing and recording schedule. In 2021 he completed a second master's degree, in music pedagogy, at the Jazz Campus in Basel.
He has had the opportunity to perform alongside artists such as Dee Dee Bridgewater, David Liebman, Kris Davis, Ohad Talmor, Richard Sears, Florian Favre, Gabriel Zufferey, Nat Su, and Jean-Lou Tréboux. Noé Tavelli is a recipient of the Friedl Wald scholarship for young talents, and is a Paiste Cymbals & Gongs and Sonor Drums artist.
BAND LEADER
Besides being a sought-after sideman on the Swiss scene, Noé has been very active as a band leader. In 2023 he introduced his most ambitious venture to date, the Noé Tavelli Double Drums Quartet, an ensemble built around unconventional double-drum instrumentation that brings together some of his most important musical mentors, including drummer extraordinaire Eric McPherson and saxophonist Ohad Talmor. Their debut album is coming out in September 2026.
He is also a member of Duboule | Tavelli | Oester, an active co-led ensemble and one of the most singular voices on the Swiss contemporary jazz scene, fuelled by the spiritual intensity of Coltrane and Hendrix, afro-diasporic rhythms, and a shared appetite for risk. After their acclaimed debut Street Sight (Hout Records, 2022), the trio's second record, Isobar, recorded with trumpeter and Swiss Music Prize laureate Matthieu Michel, is released on Unit Records in November 2025.
From 2016 to 2024, Noé led Noé Tavelli & The Argonauts, a project that quickly established itself as a compelling voice in contemporary jazz. Their debut album (Double Moon, 2019) was hailed as a revelation by Jazz Mag; their second, Inner Streams (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2022), further cemented their reputation.
TEACHING
In addition to his performing career, Noé is deeply committed to music education. Since 2017 he has directed the Lemanic Jazz Workshop, a summer ensemble camp near Geneva whose alumni include musicians who have gone on to study at collegiate level. He teaches at Espace Musical and the Conservatoire Populaire de Musique de Genève, runs a private drum studio in the Geneva area, and has given masterclasses across the globe, in Switzerland, the United States, Italy, Portugal, and Tajikistan.
LABEL
In 2026, American saxophonist Ohad Talmor and Noé Tavelli co-founded Seeds Sounds, a boutique label dedicated to jazz and improvised music. The label releases a small annual run of vinyl LPs and CDs alongside a curated digital catalogue, with recordings drawn directly from Seeds::Live concerts staged in New York, Italy, and Switzerland. Its artist-led A&R philosophy bridges the New York and European scenes, connecting musicians across both.
