Federico was born February 5th, 1966 in Montevideo, Uruguay. At about age 2 he started showing signs of having a connection to music and began playing various percussion instruments shortly thereafter. After moving to Buenos Aires, Argentina, Federico took up the drums at age 4. Even though percussion came naturally for him, he soon discovered the piano at his grandmother's house--herself a very accomplished pianist and organist. It wasn't long before he took piano lessons and began writing his first compositions; and after approximately 3 years of lessons and still showing a real interest, Federico switched teachers and was accepted by world renowned Argentine concert pianist Antonio de Raco (early teacher to Martha Argerich and a contemporary of Claudio Arrau). Having studied intensely under de Raco's tutelage until the age of 17, Federico traveled to the US where he has resided in Washington D.C. permanently since 1984. Federico's professional career began at age 15 while still in Argentina where he would take up session work while hanging out at a well know downtown recording studio. In doing so, he was exposed to various styles and levels of producers which gave him invaluable experience. As a result he was under the watchful eye of some of Argentina's top session players and producers for the next two and a half years. People like Gustavo Donez (Sweater), El Soca, Daniel Colombres, El Mono Fontana, Juan del Barrio and Jota Morelli are some of the great musicians that Federico had a chance to spend time with before leaving Buenos Aires for North America. Once in the US and after attending the Berklee College of Music for 1 year the young keyboardist returned to Washington and began playing with some of the area's top Go-Go bands (a music style indigenous to the Washington D.C. area). It was during this 3 year stint that he met Me'shell N'DegeOcello and the two began a long association (20 years) that saw many highlights along the way including various albums, Grammy nominations and world tours. Federico has also worked with Maxwell, Angela Boffill, Rare Essence, Pieces of a Dream, Digable Planets, Alana Davis, George Howard, Roy Hargrove, Chaka Khan, Cassandra Wilson, Marcus Miller, SMV (Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller & Victor Wooten) and many others. Currently he occupies the keyboard chair in SMV, tours some with Marcus Miller, and devotes his musical time to writing, some producing and pushing forward a trio by the name of GAIA that he co-founded along with close friends Gregoire Maret & Gene Lake. Federico resides in Mt.Rainier, MD (just outside Wash.DC) with his wife and two young sons.
