Best known for his years with the Zawinul Syndicate, Etienne Mbappé has a long track record behind him, where the years with Salif Keita and with the French National Jazz Orchestra (ONJ) under the direction of Antoine Hervé are especially worth mentioning.

His music constitutes a unique fusion between traditional Cameroonian rhythms (Makossa, Bolobo, Sékélé) and more modern music.  His first solo album Misiya (released on the French label O+) also reveals a singer whose voice is smooth and deep. In the Cameroonian dialect Douala he sings of love, of friendships, of his son's eyes… and also more upbeat songs that show his unique feel for dance rhythms and his great talent for arrangements and instrumentation, including a string quintet. 

Etienne Mbappé has toured extensively in France and abroad with Salif Keita and Manu Dibango (both as bassist and musical director) and the Orchestre National de Jazz, Jacques Higelin, Michel Jonasz, and many others. He also formed the two fusion bands Ultramarine* and Chic Hot. 2000 - 2003 he played with Joe Zawinul, and he can be heard on several of his recordings, for example "Faces And Places". In 2001 Etienne played on Ray Charles' last album and he is also the bass player on most of the tracks of the latest CD with Toumani Diabaté, Symmetric Orchestra.