Nuevo Tango maestro Pablo Ziegler — the Buenos Aires-born
Latin Grammy-winning pianist and composer who helped
shape the modern tango — delivers stripped-down, intimate arrangements of his essential repertoire, offering a raw, elemental concert program.
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From fiery, improvised solos to delicately woven ensemble playing, the trio delivers unmatched readings of beloved works by Ziegler, as well as modern classics by his late, longtime collaborator Astor Piazzolla.
As one the most important living interpreters of new tango,
a concert by Pablo Ziegler offers a chance to witness part the living history of this vital musical tradition.
Official Video
Reviews
"Ziegler continues to push
the art form forward... nuevo tango's
leading living exponent."
All About Jazz
"There's no question that Ziegler
takes the tango to levels of
sophistication and refinement
probably undreamed of by Piazzolla."
The Chicago Tribune
"No one embodies
the art of the tango better."
Lincoln Journal Star
"the music moves as if it possessed its own blood and limbs, and renders the tango a sinewy and electric thing"
Lemonwire
"Ziegler is a giant among men"
Latin Jazz Network
"filled with complex moves, sensuality and drama as the strings are tapped,
strummed and spliced"
Jazz Weekly
"A trip to the heart of this music... [Ziegler] is a sort of musical brujo, a conjurer who can make all within earshot a believer in his message."
New York City Jazz Record
"He is cool, understated and makes everything look easy and natural... just as a really suave tango dancer seems not to move with feet but on wheels, Ziegler skates the keyboard."
The Los Angeles Times
"Pablo Ziegler and his ensemble proved
this Argentine music could rub shoulders with Schubert and Brahms and hold its head high.
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San Diego Story
Photos
Excerpt from the liner-note of the album
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As a pianist, Ziegler's unique style and broad range have led to comparisons with the disparate likes of Vladimir Horowitz and Bill Evans - no surprise given that Ziegler began creating colorful jazz arrangements for classical music when he was only eighteen.
You can hear the classical influence quite clearly in all of his work, though in keeping with the rhythmic requirements of Nuevo Tango, he just as clearly plays the piano like the percussion instrument that it is. That he can navigate the classical and jazz worlds so seamlessly is a demonstration of how Ziegler is able to absorb material from multiple sources and create something wholly new.
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Ziegler has continuously explored the musical contours of traditional, Nuevo, and Neo tango forms, recording and touring internationally with his own duo, trio, quartet, and quintet ensembles. He has performed this type of music in almost every conceivable format, combination, and permutation.
Suffice it to say that there is nobody on th eplanet more artistically attuned to tango as a musical style than Pablo Ziegler, ad this live trio album, featuring Hector Del Curto on the bandondon - the accordion variant made famous by Piazzolla - and Claudio Ragazzi on guitar, reveals the many faces of the genre in exquisite detail.
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Kabir Sehgal - producer
Multi-GRAMMY & Latin GRAMMY Award Winner
Biography
PABLO ZIEGLER - piano, composition, arrangements
For decades, Buenos Aires-born, Latin Grammy-winning pianist, composer and arranger Pablo Ziegler has been one of the most important figures in Argentine New Tango, the vibrant musical hybrid of classical music, tango, and jazz music. “He is cool, understated and makes everything look easy and natural,” writes Mark Swed of The Los Angeles Times, “just as a really suave tango dancer seems not to move with feet but on wheels, Ziegler skates the keyboard.” Dan Bilawsky of All About Jazz affirms: “When [Astor] Piazzolla departed this Earth in 1992, the torch was passed to his longtime pianist who's been carrying it proudly ever since.”
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After performing in tango grand-maestro Astor Piazzolla’s legendary quintet for over a decade, and appearing on iconic Piazzolla recordings including Tango: Zero Hour, La Camorra and Central Park Concert, Ziegler has led his own groups for over 20 years, refining and re-imagining the bounds of the modern tango tradition.
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Recent season highlights include a performance at Lincoln Center Out of Doors in summer 2014 on a shared bill with the Paul Taylor Dance Company. The evening included a set by Ziegler’s quartet – described by The New York Times as “rapturous” – as well as a historic, first-ever collaboration: Taylor's Piazzolla Caldera with live accompaniment from the Pablo Ziegler Ensemble.In summer 2012, Ziegler joined violinist Lara St. John at the Naumberg Bandshell in Central Park to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Piazzolla’s historic Central Park Concert of 1987, in which Ziegler also played. The 2012 concert brought the largest crowd in the 107 year history of the Naumberg Orchestral Concerts series.
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Touring throughout the world with his trio, quartet and mixed ensembles, Ziegler has performed in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Colon Theatre, Sydney Opera House, Muziekgebouw, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Teatro di tradizione Dante Alighieri, Zurich Schauspielhaus, Opera House, Kit Tropentheater, Tel-Aviv Performing Arts Center, Verbier Festival, Ravinia Festival, SFJAZZ, La Jolla Summer Fest, Montreal Jazz Festival, SFJAZZ, Ottawa International Jazz Fest, Laguna Beach Music Festival, Tokyo Jazz Festival, Blue Note, Birdland, and many others.
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In addition to performing with his own groups, Ziegler has been a featured guest soloist with many major orchestras, playing his own compositions as well as the music of Piazzolla with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Presidential Orchestra of Turkey, Colorado Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Metropole Orkest, and Jazz Sinfonica Orchestra in São Paolo, Brazil.
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Pablo Ziegler’s Tango Meets Jazz project – which for over ten years saw an annual week-long residency in New York, starting at the Jazz Standard and later taking residence at Birdland Jazz – paired Ziegler’s quartet with guest artists including Branford Marsalis, Regina Carter, Stefon Harris, Paquito D’Rivera, Kenny Garrett, Joe Locke, Randy Brecker, David Sanchez, Nestor Torres, and others.
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Ziegler’s most recent recording, the Latin Grammy-nominated Amsterdam Meets New Tango (Zoho Music 2013), sees his quartet paired with the Netherlands’ Metropole Orkest, playing his most famous works arranged for jazz orchestra. His work as music director, arranger and pianist for bass-baritone opera star Erwin Schrott earned an Echo Klassik Award in 2011 for the album Rojotango. Ziegler’s 2005 release, Bajo Cero, won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Tango Album, and in 2008, his album Buenos Aires Report made the final list of nominees for the same honor. Other major recordings include 1998’s Tango Romance with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and 1996’s Los Tengueros with Emanual Ax.
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Ziegler has been artist-in-residence at major institutions, such as the Berklee School of Music, New England Conservatory, Eastman School of Music, Indiana University among others.
HECTOR DEL CURTO - bandoneon
Praised by the New York Times as a "splendid player," Argentinean bandoneonist Héctor Del Curto's career, spanning more than thirty years, has encompassed the traditional Tango, New Tango, Jazz, Classical and World music. He was the youngest member to join the legendary Osvaldo Pugliese's Orchestra and shared the stage with many Tango luminaries including Astor Piazzolla, the master of New Tango. He has performed with leading orchestras such as Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.
Born into four generations of bandoneon players, Mr. Del Curto was introduced to the bandoneon by his grandfather, Héctor Cristobal. He directed the show Forever Tango on Broadway and founded the Eternal Tango Orchestra (now the Hector Del Curto Tango Orchestra).
Mr. Del Curto recently produced and released an awarding-winning album, Live at 2016 Stowe Tango Music Festival. He also produced an album, Eternal Piazzolla, featuring his celebrated quintet and Eternal Tango, which was featured on BBC News and Public Radio International's The World. He appears in numerous recordings with such artists as Osvaldo Pugliese, Astor Piazzolla, Pablo Ziegler, Paquito D'Rivera, Tito Puente and Plácido Domingo.
Mr. Del Curto is the founding Artistic Director of the Stowe Tango Music Festival, the premier tango music festival in the United States.
CLAUDIO RAGAZZI -guitar
Film Composer and guitarist Claudio Ragazzi has been writing award winning music for film and television, scoring dozens of projects and performing with some of today's most respected musicians at renowned concert hall internationally for the past twenty years.

Claudio attended Berklee College of Music where he graduated Magna Cum Laude, a winner of the prestigious Duke Ellington Master's Award, the Boston Music Awards and an EMMY. Claudio composed music for feature films, documentaries and television as well as commercials and works for plays and ballets.

Claudio's Movie Scores include Brad Anderson's Next Stop Wonderland, the music for the award winning film, The Blue Diner, collaboration with fellow film composer Mason Daring on the music for John Sayle's Casa de los Babys, additional music for Something's Gotta Give, additional music Francis Ford Coppola's Tetro among others. Claudio has also scored dozens of TV productions for the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, National Geographic, Telemundo, Univision and PBS.
Claudio's live performances include those at Carnegie Hall, The Hollywood Bowl, The Blue Note Jazz Club, The Lincoln Center and in Festivals all around the world. He has performed with some of today's most influential and respected musicians, including Gary Burton, Yo-Yo Ma, Randy Brecker, Pablo Ziegler, Danilo Perez, Regina Carter, saxophone legends Joe Lovano, Branford Marsalis, Kenny Garrett, and Paquito D'Rivera among others.

Claudio currently scores films, performs internationally with the Pablo Ziegler Quartet as well as with his own group and teaches Film Composition at the Berklee College of Music.
