Antoine Fafard

Canadian-born and now U.K.-based, bassist Antoine Fafard brings virtuosic technique to progressive rock, jazz fusion, and classical idioms. From 2000 through 2008 his prog/fusion group Spaced Out issued five studio albums, among them Slow Gin in 2003 and Unstable Matter in 2006. He began a solo path with the 2011 release Solus Operandi, on which he performed solely acoustic guitar and bass. Occultus Tramitis appeared in 2013 and marked his initial work with violinist Jerry Goodman and drummer Gavin Harrison. Ad Perpetuum followed in 2014, incorporating drummer Vinnie Colaiuta alongside keyboardist Gary Husband. The 2016 trio album Sphere featured Husband on drums and guitarist Jerry De Villiers, Jr. Two further solo sets, Proto Mundi in 2017 and Borromean Odyssey in 2019, came next. Chemical Reactions arrived in 2020 as a co-led project with Harrison, and the pair reconvened for Perpetual Mutations in 2024.

Fafard was born in Montreal and began piano studies at age nine before turning to classical guitar around age eleven. During his teens he focused intensely on electric bass and later pursued formal music training in college. In the late 1990s he assembled the prog-rock band Spaced Out, which produced five well-received albums before disbanding in 2008. He then initiated his solo career, opening with Solus Operandi in 2011, which included drummer Vinnie Colaiuta. Occultus Tramitis followed two years later. Around that period he moved to London and continued issuing independently produced recordings on his own Timeless Momentum imprint. Proto Mundi, the ambitious 2017 concept album, enlisted drummer Simon Phillips, violinist Jerry Goodman, Vinnie Colaiuta, and Gary Husband. Borromean Odyssey in 2019 paired Fafard with Husband and drummer Todd Sucherman. The following year he and drummer/percussionist/electronicist Gavin Harrison issued Chemical Reactions, whose sessions also involved several chamber soloists, Goodman, and the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra. In early 2021 Fafard launched Alta Forma alongside Sucherman and keyboardist/vocalist JK Harrison (Scott Bennett), marking the bassist’s first band experience with a singer. The group’s prog/fusion debut Spatium & Tempus earned favorable reviews and prompted a tour. In July 2024 Fafard and Harrison returned to their joint venture with Perpetual Mutations, a nine-track electric jazz album supported by additional musicians on reeds, brass, piano, cello, and marimba.