Former pianist of the Astor Piazzolla Quintet, Pablo Ziegler continues to combine his love and talent for tango with the traditional aspects of jazz beautiful album full of fire, passion and tango at its best..

Former pianist of the Astor Piazzolla Quintet, Pablo Ziegler continues to combine his love and talent for tango with the traditional aspects of jazz.
"Tango Meets Jazz" consists mainly of his own compositions but he has also incorporated two pieces written by his former colleague, Piazzolla, a sign of respect and gratitude.
This album seems to build on the revolutionary work he contributed towards within his early years, combining improvisation and jazz chord progressions within the recognized tango sound.
The album was recorded live at The Standard, New York, providing a raw and exhilarating performance.
The passion of the tango is portrayed through the frantic, dancing sounds of the quartet, deceiving your senses to believe you are in steamy Argentina and not in rainy Hull. The magic of recording live.
The band consists of some of America's leading musicians, including special guest vibraphonist, Stefon Harris. Improvising with maturity, precision and expertise collectively the band create electrifying solos and therefore receive gracious amounts of audience admiration.
Paul Myers provides a fantastic guitar solo with "La Cumparsola", one which incorporates the desired collaboration, tango and jazz.
The main man himself, Pablo Ziegler, holds the band together as the bandoneon and the piano seem to be working as a team, one providing rhythmical or counter melodies while the other playing sharp melodies or captivating riffs.
This differs and alternates depending on the required atmosphere, consequently providing a variety of emotions and ultimately an electrifying climax within every track.
"La Muerte del angel" is a personal favourite as it has a fantastic amount of energy for the first track while "Milonga en el viento" and the sublime "Muchacha de Boedo" seem to tell an emotional story as the band works conversationally.
A beautiful album full of fire, passion and tango at its best.

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For a week in December of 2005 at New York City’s Jazz Standard, pianist Pablo Ziegler invited a different jazz artist to sit in with his quartet each night. Among these were Paquito D’Rivera, Harry Allen and, as recorded for this CD, vibraphonist Stefon Harris. Experience with a vibes player was not new to Ziegler, for he had performed with Gary Burton while the pianist of Astor Piazzolla’s celebrated New Tango Quintet, and also as a guest on Burton’s tribute CD, Astor Piazzolla Reunion. Harris, however, was new to tango that night, but he once again proved his unsurpassed versatility, performing with both confidence and appropriate gusto. Given his fresh approach to Ellington on African Tarantella, and his creativity with the Classical Jazz Quartet, his performance here is not surprising.

Harris appears on five of the 10 selections, with Ziegler, Hector Del Curto on bandoneon, Paul Myers on guitar and Pablo Aslan on bass. On Piazzolla’s classic “Michelangelo ’70,” Del Curto essays the staccato theme, building to an exciting climax at which point Harris solos—his emotional commitment and facility for this challenging music is immediately apparent in his driving and adventurous improvisation. On “Once Again … Milonga,” his beautiful slow milonga, Ziegler features a relentless, cascading solo by the pianist. Harris follows inspired, varying his approach with both extended lines and repetitive phrases, at home again with the music. His warm, reflective solo on the yearning “Muchacha de Boedo” garners one of the few rounds of applause before the end of a piece.

Del Curto and Myers stand out on “La Rayuela,” Del Curto alternately sweet and dissonant, Myers’ solo full of glistening chords and bent notes. Myers also excels on “Desde Otros Tiempos” and another Piazzolla classic, “La Muerte del Angel.” “La Cumparsola” is given a stirring ensemble reading, Ziegler’s arrangement of the famous “La Cumparsita” by Gerardo Matos Rodríguez. Aslan’s solid and knowing support here and elsewhere is outstanding.

Ziegler’s groups remain among the best interpreters of his mentor Piazzolla’s creation “new tango”, that wonderful blend of tango, classical and jazz elements.

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Pablo Ziegler played with Astor Piazzolla for 11 years, so you don't mess with him. The pianist plays straight from the beating, bleeding heart of nuevo tango, with its Argentinian mix of swagger and sweetness: tango's violent edges are always tempered by sentimentality. There's a rhythmic verve to Ziegler's improvisations, but it's not jazz - despite the album's misleading title. It's a sign of tango's strength that Stefon Harris's vibes mesh so brilliantly with Ziegler's band of piano, bass, guitar and bandoneon. Even on numbers such as La Rayuela, which leave plenty of room for improvisation, the idiom's structural tightness stops the musicians from straying too far: Harris and guitarist Paul Myers, another tango neophyte, work happily within the harmonic and rhythmic grid. Ziegler's tunes stay firmly within the tradition, with an urgent, finely tuned control of tension and release that is best expressed on the album's sole Piazzolla tune, Michelangelo 70.

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This live New York club recording from 2005 captures a one-off gig teaming Argentinian pianist Ziegler's modern tango quartet with the exciting young vibraphone player Stefon Harris. Ziegler spent 10 years as Astor Piazzola's pianist, and aided by Hector dél Curto on bandoneón, expertly delivers the bittersweet melodies and zestful rhythms of modern tango. The album - on which two Piazzola compositions nestle down with six of Ziegler's own - is a seamless blend of two traditions, full of finesse and feeling.

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A beautiful album full of fire, passion and tango at its best..

Former pianist of the Astor Piazzolla Quintet, Pablo Ziegler continues to combine his love and talent for tango with the traditional aspects of jazz.
"Tango Meets Jazz" consists mainly of his own compositions but he has also incorporated two pieces written by his former colleague, Piazzolla, a sign of respect and gratitude.
This album seems to build on the revolutionary work he contributed towards within his early years, combining improvisation and jazz chord progressions within the recognized tango sound.
The album was recorded live at The Standard, New York, providing a raw and exhilarating performance.
The passion of the tango is portrayed through the frantic, dancing sounds of the quartet, deceiving your senses to believe you are in steamy Argentina and not in rainy Hull. The magic of recording live.
The band consists of some of America's leading musicians, including special guest vibraphonist, Stefon Harris. Improvising with maturity, precision and expertise collectively the band create electrifying solos and therefore receive gracious amounts of audience admiration.
Paul Myers provides a fantastic guitar solo with "La Cumparsola", one which incorporates the desired collaboration, tango and jazz.
The main man himself, Pablo Ziegler, holds the band together as the bandoneon and the piano seem to be working as a team, one providing rhythmical or counter melodies while the other playing sharp melodies or captivating riffs.
This differs and alternates depending on the required atmosphere, consequently providing a variety of emotions and ultimately an electrifying climax within every track.
"La Muerte del angel" is a personal favourite as it has a fantastic amount of energy for the first track while "Milonga en el viento" and the sublime "Muchacha de Boedo" seem to tell an emotional story as the band works conversationally.
A beautiful album full of fire, passion and tango at its best.

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Pablo Ziegler was Astor Piazzolla's pianist in his quintet for over ten years, and last year he won a Latin Grammy. This CD is part of his Tango Meets Jazz project in which top artists such as vibist Harris are invited to join Pablo and his quartet. The recordings were made live at NYC's Jazz Standard. Tango was a new Latin rhythm to young Stefon, but he got right into it and turns in some lovely solos. The arrangements - all by Ziegler - left room for improvisation by the guest players. There are two Piazzolla classic numbers, but the rest of the ten-track program are Ziegler originals. An exciting set which injects new contributions into the Piazolla jazz-flavored tango style instead of just replicating the originals.

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Pablo Ziegler spent over a decade as the pianist with bandoneon player Astor Piazzolla´s band and after the latter's death, he became one of the major interpreters of the modern tango. With a quartet including Hector del Curto on bandoneon, guitarist Paul Myers, bassist Pablo Aslan and adding a special guest, vibraphonist Stefon Harris on several tracks, the spirit of Piazzolla is very much alive. Two of Piazzolla's compositions are performed, "La Muerte del Angel" and "Michelangelo," both of them intense affairs. Among Ziegler's potent originals are the bittersweet ballad "Milonga en el Viento" and the haunting "Muchacha de Boedo." The presence of Harris invites comparison to Piazzolla's recording with vibraphonist Gary Burton added to his band. Intimately recorded at the Jazz Standard in New York City, the audience is clearly spellbound by the music and keep extremely quiet until offering enthusiastic applause after each number. Highly recommended.

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All in all a very enjoyable album and one of the most convicing fusions of jazz and tango that I've heard.

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