From Córdoba to New York - Reseña

Latin Beat Magazine, March, 2001 by Luis Tamargo

During most of the 20th century, a series of talented Argentinean musicians have played significant roles in the historic development of the jazz genre.

Back in 1939, for example, after hearing the late Buenos Aires-born guitarist Oscar Alemán in Paris, Leonard Feather wrote, "His tone, phrasing, swing and attack are so grand that if anyone ever mentions Django Reinhardt to me again, I shall stare coldly."

There has been a thriving jazz community in Argentina since Boris Claudio Schifrin (he would legally adopt his nickname of "Lalo" many years later, upon becoming a U.S. citizen) organized the country's first jazz group in 1956. Schifrin's band featured a young tenor player, Leandro "Gato" Barbieri, who would turn his back on "free jazz" to record an improvisation of the venerable tango Mi Buenos Aires Querido in the 1970s, the same decade in which the exquisite pianist Jorge Dalto (1948-1987) came to prominence as George Benson's accompanist on the guitarist's vocal hit, This Masquerade. This happened, however, after Astor Piazzolla (1912-1992) had already elevated the tango to new creative heights by incorporating jazz influences absorbed during his formative years in New York.

In the 1980s, many other excellent jazz musicians from Argentina moved abroad in search of wider artistic horizons. This is how New York City's jazz aficionados discovered the gorgeous tenor and soprano timbres of Andres Boiarsky, as well as the contemplative tangos and swinging sambas imported by pianist Carlos Franzetti.

The exodus of Argentina's top jazz musicians to the Big Apple and its neighboring territories continued in full force and effect in the past decade, when we witnessed the arrival of pianist Darío Eskenazi, trumpeter Diego Urcola and saxophonist Oscar Feldman, the latter of whom created quite an uproar by the end of the 1990s with his impressive recording debut as a leader (El Angel, Songosaurus, 1999). Known for his splendid tonalities and melodically outstanding charts, the 38-year old native of Córdoba demonstrated his superb skills on alto, tenor and soprano saxes, while employing a wide range of Panamerican references, from straight-ahead to tango to candombe to samba to mambo. Furthermore, Feldman's debut is enriched with the presence of various stellar guests, including but not limited to Paquito D'Rivera, Claudio Roditi, Gato Barbieri, Alex Acuña, Carlos Franzetti, Ed Simón, and Richie Zellón.

As a matter of fact, one could argue that El Angel transcends any conventional boundaries. After listening to this disc, one becomes truly aware of what Dizzy Gillespie meant when he coined the term "Panamerican music."