The Tropical Dance Sextet will entrance you with the wonderful vocals of Grace Rigby, the masterful voice and guitar of carioca Eddie Gazani, the exquisite accordion of Kay Sullivan, Roberto Fontana’s captivating trumpet, the inventive, solid percussion, and rich vocals of Nico Iaia, all underpinned by Peter Freeman’s dynamic bass.   

Meet the Musicians

Grace Rigby has a natural talent for singing Latin songs. Her polished vocals are a result of her totally owning a song, acting it out as well as delivering a very special vocal performance.

Eddie Gazani, born in Rio de Janeiro, spent much of his youth in Italy. A fine guitarist, singer, composer and writer, Eddie is a master of the Brazilian/Italian musical cross-genre.

Kay Sullivan plays an Italian Scandalli accordion superbly well. She demonstrates her sophisticated empathy with Brazilian and European popular music refined through many performances in choro, forro’, bossa-nova and jazz manouche style.

Italian-born Roberto Fontana really makes his trumpet speak with his mellifluous, well-crafted sound and exciting solos.

Nico Iaia, originally from Brindisi, Sothern Italy, plays unpretentious, motivating percussion and lends his rich vocals to several of the songs in the Tropical Dance Sextet repertoire.

Musical Director Peter Freeman arranges all the band’s songs and underpins each performance with his dynamic bass.