BIOGRAPHY

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(avec Les Gipsy Kings à Radio City Music Hall, NY, 2005)

Self taught bass player, composer and arranger, Xavier Padilla was born in Caracas,
Venezuela, in 1963 and established himself in Europe since 1988.

His early professional experience in his country included the Award Winning group, Autana.

He lived for five years in Germany, four years in Greece and has been in France since France where he continues to live.

His varied experience has traces in a number of musical styles, while his own musical material
as a player and composer tends to approach these with a distinctive artistic signature.

That can be heard in his first record as lead in Tools For Tales, which covers a wide palette of
genres like Latin jazz, straight jazz, fusion, free improvisation, R&B, bossa, jazz samba,
and the least known Venezuelan genre called Onda Nueva (New Wave).

Tools For Tales resumes over two decades of experiences and dedication,
featuring Xavier's voice on the electric bass as the essential complement to his own composing.

Containing fifteen originals interpreted in a studio by 31 top players,
this highly elaborated 76 minute work is the result of a lot of work.

Xavier Padilla lives in Paris, where he takes part in the jazz and Latin local scenes,
where he has either played bass or arranged and composed for Orlando Poleo,
Allen Hoist, Julien Lourau, Alfredo Rodriguez, Bobby Rangell, as well as for the Gipsy Kings,
Bernard Lavilliers, Alfredo Cutufla Franchesqui, and Javier Plaza.

His international background includes recording and touring with artists Aldemaro Romero,
Senta Berger, Dunkel Ziffer, Polikandriotis, Conexion Latina, Pix-Lax,
Julia Migenes, Ricardo Hernandez, Garou, Tito Allen and Celia Cruz.

Since 2001 he is the bass player with the Gipsy Kings and has toured
extensively around the world, especially in the USA.

Xavier has also been interested in designing basses, check out his little twisted-neck bass
at www.littleguitarworks.com, a result of his own research in the field of ergonomics.

Xavier currently continues to expand his musical horizons by playing with as many
people as possible, and is still growing in the art form he loves the most.

 

 

 

 

 

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