Customer Reviews

The New Tango

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is amongst the most beautiful, profound and moving music which has ever been produced from any genre this century. Allying the great creativity and expressiveness of Piazzolla with the more jazzy sensibilities of Burton has allowed the transgressing of musical boundaries to create something wonderful. I won't point out individual favourites because all compositions are brilliant. Oh alright, I will! "Milonga is Coming" is superb - check out how Burton's solo is prepared within the overall arrangement.

Consisting almost entirely of original Piazzolla compositions this entire CD is nothing less than perfect throughout and in many ways represents a peak of Piazzolla's output recorded, as it was, fairly late in his career. In my opinion Piazzolla just kept on improving right up to the end. The later works represent such a creative and broad array of music that he seemed to be able to effortlessly incorporate other influences without ever diluting his searing musical intensity.

Pizzolla, even during his early career in the '40s was an avid arranger and even before he was known as a composer was much sought after by band leaders of that era to make new, innovative arrangements. I reflect on that fact here because of how naturally the vibes of Burton are brought into the overall sounds - this is really excellently handled to the point where Burton sounds as if he had been playing with Piazzolla for decades. Piazzolla's 40+ years of arranging experience was put to excellent use here.

This is very much a quintet and not just Piazzolla and Burton with backing unit. Accordingly it would be ungrateful and churlish not to mention the other great musicians here, not for the sake of completeness but to highlight their key contributions. First amongst these would be Fernando Suarez Paz for his soaring and perfectly judged violin part. I'd also mention Pablo Ziegler for his great contribution on piano. Both of these musicians have gone on to contribute great music since this production.

If you are a fan of either Piazzolla or Burton you must buy this. If you enjoy listening to the best music you must buy this. For the paltry outlay (...)you will be able to listen to this music for the rest of your lives. Now that's what I call a bargain!

Just buy it!

This is not, repeat NOT your Argentinian bordello-style tango or even classical tango. This is jazz, with vibraphone and a quintet rather reminiscent of the Microscopic Septet (they do the theme for NPR's "Fresh Air") The late Astor Piazzolla was an Argentinian with impeccable musical credentials; studied with Hungarian pianist Bela Wilda (student of Rachmaninoff), with the great Argentinian 20th Century avant-garde composer Ginastera and later played with one of the most famous tango orchestras, one of the greatest tango orchestras of the late 30's and 40's; the Anibal Troilo orchestra.

From this rich and musically varied background, Piazzolla brings a fresh sense of jazz and a startling sonority that is ultra-modern yet of course rooted completely in the tango tradition. There is a bit of the Ginastera playfulness in his compositions, and a real sense of jazz supported by the classical structure. Piazzola won a prize at Montreaux in 1986.

This CD is entirely Piazzolla compositions, giving a great sense of the composer's light touch, humor and delicacy of arrangement. This is a historic musical album, a must for the student of both jazz and Twentieth-Century "serious" music.

Joanna Daneman

The sound of the New Tango Quintet is significantly changed with the addition of Burton's vibes (he toured with Piazzolla extensively) - a lot of the faster material benefits from the bubbly sound of attacking mallets and the slower, more moody sections get a spooky accent from the resonating vibes. Its obvious all the players share the same sonic vision as they move in & out of dissonance, from soft to raucous dynamics. Burton is worth checking out for his many other projects (latest="Virtuosi"); he is total class.

In a number of these pieces I'm struck by the sweetness of Fernando Suarez Paz's violin playing which can descend into eery sound effects. And of course there's Astor's propulsive bandoneon underneath.

As with all Piazzolla, this recoriding is full of feeling - very modern, ordered with plenty of logic but underneath it all lies a savage, incontrovertible animal instinct.

I bought this CD on a whim and was immediately floored by the presentation and quality of composition. This is a live album recorded at the Montreux Festival. It possesses a tremendous audio soundstage putting you right there in the audience for the event. Sweet! The New Tango is infused with a light jazz fusion which is new and joyful while remaining true in theme to its Latin roots.

Piazzolla and Burton immediately create the exotic fluid mood of this CD with their intro piece "Milonga is Coming." This is a CD for pure musical enjoyment and not dancing. Don't let the other reviewers looking for background Tango music confuse the issue. This music is a fusion of Tango and Jazz yielding a sumptuous and thickly romantic sound coupled with an equally irresistable jazz heartbeat. Burton's Vibes provide accenting on and off tempo syncopation that really sends the music into motion. I could not help but be lifted and carried along with the fresh tropical sounds "The New Tango" provides.

The first time that I heard this recording I was walking in the street, listening to my walkman. Immediately I turned around, went to my favorite record store, and bought every record by A. Piazzola (yes, vinyl) my budget could afford. Now, 15 years later, I am still trying to collect every A,Piazzola and G.Burton recording. I cannot comment on the musical merits of this album. They are of stellar proportions. What comes out of this music is feelings, strong feelings that you never knew existed. Two giants meet to offer music out of this planet.

The New Tango is in few words an authentic and sumptuous masterpiece. Recorded in Montreal Festival, this recital gathers overtly two genuine masters of the music who joined talents to offer us a brilliant display of music and poetry where the tango reacquires a new dimension hued by that overwhelming pianissimos and slender phrasing filled of expressiveness, grace, despair and hopeless.

Nobody as Piazzolla has been capable to express the multiple facets of the meaning of tango with such memorable honesty and conviction.

If you really have one of the most powerful and transcendental recitals of the decade, you should have as soon as possible, this incomparable testimonial.

The first time that I heard this recording I was walking in the street, listening to my walkman. Immediately I turned around, went to my favorite record store, and bought every record by A. Piazzola (yes, vinyl) my budget could afford. Now, 15 years later, I am still trying to collect every A,Piazzola and G.Burton recording. I cannot comment on the musical merits of this album. They are of stellar proportions. What comes out of this music is feelings, strong feelings that you never knew existed. Two giants meet to offer music out of this planet.

The first time that I heard this recording I was walking in the street, listening to my walkman. Immediately I turned around, went to my favorite record store, and bought every record by A. Piazzola (yes, vinyl) my budget could afford. Now, 15 years later, I am still trying to collect every A,Piazzola and G.Burton recording. I cannot comment on the musical merits of this album. They are of stellar proportions. What comes out of this music is feelings, strong feelings that you never knew existed. Two giants meet to offer music out of this planet.

Whether you are a fan of Piazzola or Burton this will be essential to your collection. A brief listen to the frenetic "Vibraphonissimo" (which is a "Flight of the Bumblebee" written with a tango sensability) and you will see what I mean; two masters from different artistic & esthetic backgrounds collaborate here to produce one of the greatest musical documents of the 20th century.

Astor Piazolla took the tango to a whole new level and this recording is a great taste of this wonderful music. It is exciting and engaging and great listening! This is World Class stuff!