“A” Trio is the oldest Lebanese free improv group. It was formed in 2002 by Mazen Kerbaj (trumpet), Sharif Sehnaoui (acoustic guitar), and Raed Yassin (double bass), initially for a single concert at the second edition of the experimental music festival Irtijal. After this concert the three musicians went on to record the first free jazz album to be produced in the arab world (A – La Cédéthèque, 2003). Their music later moved away from its jazz roots towards a more textural approach, relying strongly on prepared & extended techniques for a heavy diversion of their respective instruments. After working together in trio and various other contexts for many years, Kerbaj, Sehnaoui and Yassin reached a characteristic sound that has been fondly described as “textural swing.” Creative yet simple, acoustic yet powerful, their live performances are playful and rely on a strong visual component.

In 2012, and for their 10th anniversary, “A” Trio finally released their long awaited second album Music to Our Ears, followed a year later by their first live album, recorded at the Konfrontationnen festival in Nickelsdorf. In 2022, the group is celebrating their 20th anniversary with the release of two new albums (The Binding Third and Folk). 

"A" Trio has also often worked with guest musicians or in collaboration with other bands, in live setup or in the recording studio. They have so far collaborated with: folk singer/musician Alan Bishop, improv pioneers AMM, Lebanese punk-rock band Scrambled Eggs, Turkish free jazz band KonstruKt, French poet Patrick Dubost, acclaimed Australian trio The Necks, modular synthesizer maverick Thomas Ankersmit, as well as various musicians including Michael Zerang, David Stackenas, Martin Kuchen, Georg Wissel, Tony Buck, Maurice Louca and Michel Doneda.

“A” Trio has widely toured in Europe and the USA, performing in festivals such as Skanu Mesz in Riga, Club Transmediale and Maerz Musik in Berlin or Météo in Mulhouse. Individually, Kerbaj, Sehnaoui and Yassin are three of Lebanon’s most active musicians, organising the Irtijal international festival since 2001 and running two record labels Al Maslakh devoted to "publish the un-publishable on the Lebanese musical scene" and Annihaya that focuses on sampling, recycling and the displacement of various aspects of popular culture.

The “A” Trio creates an unholy racket with acoustic instruments. Mazen Kerbaj plays his trumpet through various tubes and hosepipes, moving kitchen paraphernalia around the bell of his instrument to create unearthly effects. Double bassist Raed Yassin and guitarist Sharif Sehnaoui strike and mute the strings of their instruments with detritus including pegs and paperclips. The trio’s creaks, howls and drones resemble a faulty electric power generator, or a steampunk synth band. 
[The Guardian – John Lewis]

Spiazzante, vivo e pulsante.
[Blow Up – Girolamo Dal Maso]

In this trio setting, you can barely tell what the hell's going on, except that it's staunchly textural and utterly engrossing.
It's a rare treat to hear musicians creating such startlingly unique and perfectly constructed, and integrated, work via pure improvisation
[Exclaim  – Nick Storring]

This is really not very much like anything else I’ve heard recently.
[The Watchfull Ear – Richard Pinnell]

Trumpeter Mazen Kerbaj, bassist Raed Yassin and guitarist Sharif Sehnaoui have developed a cohesive improvisational style founded upon a peculiar blend of isolation and connectedness.
[Dusted Magazine | Bill Meyer]

All three musicians largely avoid conventional technique, instead using what sounds like motorised devices to generate rattling, metallic vibrations, building a mechanistic backdrop out of which the instruments’ true voices occasionally – and very briefly – arise like anguished cries for help. It’s rare to hear improvisation making such a powerful comment on the dehumanising effects of industrialised violence.
[The Wire – Daniel Spicer]

Sometimes they alter the timbre of the respective instruments in such a radical fashion that one just does not believe that there’s not a saxophone, or a distortion pedal in this set.
[Touching Extremes – Massimo Ricci]

The trio surprises audiences with unconventional musical concepts and playing techniques on specially prepared instruments – trumpet, acoustic guitar and double bass – which bear traces of the influence of Dada and Fluxus.
[Ruhr Triennale - Matthias Osterwold]

The “A” Trio gig I’ve attended three years ago was the most “out there” performance at that festival which is quite an achievement, considering they only play acoustic instruments and the festival was the infamous Konfrontationen 2012.
[The Attic – Bogdan Scoromide]

The music is not electronic, rather acoustic, implying a kind of ‘get back’ to the instrument itself feel – while at the same time moving beyond anything that sounds even remotely like the instrument.  
[Lisa Thatcher]