Fats Sadi

Who was Fats Sadi?

"Fats" Sadi Pol Lallemand was a Belgian jazz musician, vocalist and composer, playing vibraphone and percussion. He chose Sadi as an artist name as he had an aversion for his last name which means "the German" in French. He had his own quartet and nonet. Sadi won the Belgian Golden Django for best French-speaking artist in 1996.

After World War II, he became a professional vibraphonist. He performed with Jacques Pelzer in The Bob Shots, then with among others Django Reinhardt, Kenny Clarke, Stéphane Grappelli and Don Byas when he was in Paris (from 1950 to 1961), also co-leading a quartet with pianist Martial Solal in 1955, which recorded the following year. He was also a member of The Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band. On his return to Belgium, he worked for RTBF, the TV channel of the French Community in Belgium. Sadi became seriously ill in January 1995 and subsequently appeared rarely on stage.