A few weeks ago my host brother, Lucas, invited me to take a peek at his record collection. Among the pile of 80’s gold, I found an LP that really stuck out. It was one I had never seen before, with a drawing of a wacky mustached character (pictured). The drawing was of an Argentine musician called Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992), who I had never heard of. And the weirder thing was, that it was signed.
I gave Lucas the “what is this all about” look, to which he replied “no conoces a el!”. He put on some of Astor Piazzolla's tunes, and I was blown away. I had heard tango before, but not like this. Piazzolla was a classically trained composer and bandoneón tango player (the bandoneón is an accordion-like instrument). However, he broke away from the norm of Argentina at the time and fused the classical tango sounds with some elements of Jazz, and the result is beautiful.
So I started looking into this Piazzolla character, trying to figure out how he hadn’t come on my radar yet, and I discovered he has a pretty awesome story and done some incredible things. Here are a few of them:
- He lived in Greenwich Village in New York, before it was cool (about 1925, when it was actually dangerous and full of gangsters, what a hipster).
- He grew up in New York and Buenos Aires where he played tango at clubs late into the night and woke up at the crack of dawn to catch the Teatro Colón Orchestra rehearse. He would later go on to headline at Teatro Colón.
- Carlos Gardel, the Godfather of Tango, invited him to come on tour when he was just 13 years old. His father didn't let him go, worrying he was too young, and it's a good thing he did because Gardel and his band all died in a plane crash just a year later.
- He was a visionary, way ahead of his time. At first, people didn’t get his music and were so offended by his new take on tango that cab drivers wouldn’t even pick him up in the streets, according to legend. Later on people recognized him as the genius he was, and there is even a small museum dedicated to him in the San Telmo neighborhood of Buenos Aires.
- He recorded an album in collaboration with legendary Argentine poet, Jorge Luis Borges.
- He recorded an incredible album with American saxophonist Gerry Mulligan in Milan.
- He lived in Italy, traveled the world, and played the Montreal Jazz Festival in 1984
- His music was used for the soundtrack of the film 12 Monkeys (one of the best sci fi films of all time).
- Just check out that moustache. Style points. Awesome Barry White outfits in the 70’s as well.
What I love about the guy (beside all of those awesome things) is that he brought together two worlds he knew, in a way that made a lot of sense Tango started out as a music of the poorer people in the streets of Buenos Aires, and later became extremely popular. Jazz was also looked down upon in its earliest days in New Orleans, until becoming the most popular music in America. Piazzolla brought together the icons of his worlds in a painfully beautiful way.
And the coolest part is, Lucas has the autograph because Piazzolla was a family friend and drinking/fishing buddy of Lucas’ father. To simpler times. Here he is playing Años de soledad with Gerry Mulligan. Here he is in 1960. And here he is playing the a song from the Suite Troilena (with the wacky cover).
Enjoy,
-Giordano