Fapy Lafertin

Fapy Lafertin ( born March 20, 1950 in Kortrijk ) is a Belgian jazz guitarist, regarded as very traditional oriented and equipped with a very good technique of gypsy jazz musicians. In addition to the acoustic and the electric guitar, he plays since 2001, the twelve-string Portuguese Guitarra.

Life and work

Lafertin, who comes from a family of Manouche, learned his craft first in the family band. His career as a solo guitarist, he began in the late 1960s in the Roma orchestra de Piottos, which was led by Piotto Limberger. Their repertoire consisted of Swing together in the style of the Quintette du Hot Club de France and folklore of the Roma. In 1975 he left together with clarinetist Koen De Cauter the band to establish with guitarist Albert Vivi Limberger and bassist Michel Verstraeten the Waso Quartet. With this ensemble, which was mainly in the Netherlands and Belgium as a leading ensemble of Gypsy jazz scene, he played a six albums. From 1985 on, he had his own Hot Club Quintet Fapy Lafertin, which was attached to the French model from the 1930s, not only in its cast, but also in the repertoire. Besides interpreted Lafertin which again plays together with Koen De Cauter since 2004, as well as music of the Balkans and Latin America.

Lafertin has worked with numerous international musicians such as Charlie Byrd, Scott Hamilton, Al Casey, Milt Hinton, Benny Waters and Stéphane Grappelli. He also cooperated with the English group to Le Jazz guitarist David Kelbie and has worked with the singer and violinist Bamboula Ferret (1909-2008) recorded two albums. The Dutch violinist Tim Kliphuis is involved in three of his recent albums.

Disco printing specifications

• Fleur de Lavende ( Hot Club Records, 1990)
• Aurore ( Studio 88, 1993)
• Swing Guitars (Le Jazz, 1995)
• Hungaria feat. Bob Wilber (Le Jazz, 1996)
• Star Eyes (String Jazz, 2000)
• Fleur d' Ennui ( Timeless Records, 2001)
• Fine and Dandy (Iris Music, 2002)
• Koen De Cauter, Fapy Lafertin & group Django! A Tribute ( WERF, 2010)