Andres Lafone

Originally from Uruguay bass player Andy Lafone, a very old friend of the Club, moved to London in the late 70's and has been here ever since. A leading light of the Latin American music scene in the UK and Europe he came to prominence in the late 80's and early 90's as part of the Jazz Dance/Acid Jazz scene and he has, since then, cemented a reputation as one of the most skilled and creative players on the Latin scene. Through the 90's and 2000's he recorded and toured Worldwide with the singer Basia, picking up a gold album on the way, as well as touring and recording with New Orleans based singer/pianist Jon Cleary and appearing at Montreux Jazz Festival with Cruzeiro do Sul. It was during this time that he also first teamed up with leading UK Latin musician and band leader Snowboy, appearing on 7 of his albums and still touring and recording with him to this day. He has toured worldwide with the iconic Latin band Da Latta and is a founder member and leader of the band Negrocan. His composition ‘Cada Vez’ was nominated for a Billboard Award in 2002 as well as the “Song of the Summer’ award in Ibiza. This composition was a worldwide hit and can still be heard regularly in clubs and on the radio. Negrocan went on to make three albums and to perform at WOMAD and Glastonbury. From the mid 2000's Andy also moved in to production, producing albulms for the likes of Uruguayan guitarist Guille Hill (now also a London resdent and 606 regualr) and singer Monica Vasconcelos. Andy's festival credits include The Jakarta Jazz Festival, The Cape Town Jazz Festival, Heineken Festival Beijing and the North Sea Jazz Festival. More recently he has been seen regularly here at the Club with Liliana Chachian’s OLUMO and is a member of the Grand Union Orchestra, who are committed to a greater understanding and appreciation of all aspects of World Music. In 2017 Andy released his first instrumental album under his own name, ‘Magical Realism’, which, he says, "reflects the diversity of his musical background". The repertoire tonight will be drawn from that album and the musicians he has gathered together this evening are all featured on the album, including David Bitelli-sax, Steve Lodder-piano, Guille Hill-guitar and Marius Rodrigues-drums. This is world class Latin music music performed by World Class players.

"Andy Lafone....formidable talent" LatinosInLondon