Jorge Lagos

Jorge Lagos, Buenos Aires, Argentina (August 12th 1918-2011). He was involved in the jazz scene from a very early age, performing with some of the most outstanding musicians of the jazz scene of Buenos Aires. He toured in South America. 

Jorge recounted that in the 1950s he lived for a time in Paris and lived with French gypsies. He said that there he had the opportunity to personally meet Django Reinhardt (1910-1953) before his death and fully immerse himself in the style known as “gypsy jazz.” 

There is a picture with him and Eugene Vees. Back in Buenos Aires from that trip, he gave an original Selmer to the Spanish luthier Sergio Repiso, to replicate it. Repiso started doing “petite bouche” and “D-hole” guitars. Some guitarists say that Repiso are superior to Selmer guitars…

He formed the group “Jorge Lagos and his Hot Four” with Alfonso Ferramosca on clarinet, Abel Lescano on accompanying guitar, Jorge Boetto on double bass, and alternately drummers Jorge Cichero and Jorge Padin. With this formation, similar to another one popularized by Django Reinhardt, he achieved great success, recording the LP “BIENVENIDO MR. JAZZ” for the ODEON label, a widely distributed album that quickly sold out in record stores.

Throughout his long career, Jorge Lagos has performed in different formations alongside great jazz figures such as guitarist Oscar Alemán, Chilean violinist Hernán Oliva, pianist Enrique “Mono” Villegas, pianist, conductor, and arranger Lalo Schiffrin, American guitarist Joe Pass, Austrian pianist Friedrich Gulda, and many others.

He has also been invited to perform at international jazz festivals, having toured in several Latin American countries, France, and the United States.