Fapy Lafertin (born 20 November 1950) is a Belgian guitarist in the Belgian-Dutch

gypsy jazz Gypsy jazz (also known as gypsy swing, jazz manouche or hot club-style jazz) is a style of small-group jazz originating from the Romani guitarist Jean "Django" Reinhardt (1910–53), in conjunction with the French swing violinist Stéphane G ...

style. Lafertin was born in

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; vls, Kortryk or ''Kortrik''; french: Courtrai ; la, Cortoriacum), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It is the capital and large ...

, Belgium in the

Manouche Romani people in France, generally known in spoken French as ''gitans'', ''tsiganes'' or ''manouches'', are an ethnic group that originated in Northern India. The exact number of Romani people in France is unknown; estimates vary from 500,000 ...

Romani community and took up guitar at the age of five. After performing in a family band with his father on violin and his brother on second guitar, he joined the Piotto Limberger orchestra. He also toured with his uncle, Eddie Ferret.Dregni ''et al.'' (2006), p. 161 In the 1970s and '80s he was lead acoustic guitarist with the band "Waso", with Albert "Vivi" Limberger on rhythm guitar, Koen De Cauter on reeds (clarinet and saxophone) and vocals, and Michel Verstraeten on double bass. In 1985 he began a quartet which has featured Rudi Brink, Tim Kliphuis, and Joop Hendricks. He based the quartet on the

Quintette du Hot Club de France The Quintette du Hot Club de France ("The Quintet of the Hot Club of France"), often abbreviated "QdHCdF" or "QHCF", was a jazz group founded in France in 1934 by guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli and active in one form ...

. He began a solo career and toured throughout Europe and the UK. He has played with American jazz musicians such as Charlie Byrd, Al Casey, Scott Hamilton,

Milt Hinton Milton John Hinton (June 23, 1910 – December 19, 2000) was an American double bassist and photographer. Regarded as the Dean of American jazz bass players, his nicknames included "Sporty" from his years in Chicago, "Fump" from his time on the ...

, and Benny Waters. Briefly he performed with

Stéphane Grappelli Stéphane Grappelli (; 26 January 1908 – 1 December 1997, born Stefano Grappelli) was a French jazz violinist. He is best known as a founder of the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the fi ...

. Lafertin has used the 12-string guitarra, combining Portuguese

fado Fado (; "destiny, fate") is a music genre that can be traced to the 1820s in Lisbon, Portugal, but probably has much earlier origins. Fado historian and scholar Rui Vieira Nery states that "the only reliable information on the history of fado was ...

and Brazilian samba with the music of Reinhardt, Duke Ellington, and the

Great American Songbook The Great American Songbook is the loosely defined canon of significant early-20th-century American jazz standards, popular songs, and show tunes. Definition According to the Great American Songbook Foundation: The "Great American Songbook" i ...

in his repertoire.

Discography

* ''Fleur de Lavende'' (Hot Club, 1991) * ''Swing Guitars'' (Lejazzetal, 1994) * ''Hungaria'' (Lejazzetal, 1996) * ''Star Eyes'' (String Jazz, 2000) * ''Fleur D'ennui'' (Timeless, 2001) * ''Fine & Dandy'' (Iris Music, 2003) * ''Django!!'' (W.E.R.F., 2010)

References

1950 births Living people Belgian musicians Belgian jazz guitarists Belgian Romani people Continental jazz guitarists Gypsy jazz guitarists Manouche people 21st-century Belgian musicians 20th-century Belgian musicians {{jazz-guitarist-stub