Astor Piazzolla - Tango: The Best Of Astor Piazzolla (2023)

Tango’s modern master, Astor Piazzolla, was a composer who revolutionised the music of his native Argentina. In the 1950s, he single-handedly invented “nuevo tango”, a modernised version of the passionate dance rhythms born in the brothels of Buenos Aires during the 1880s. Born in Argentina but brought up in New York, he was a classically trained musician, while being exposed to the jazz that was so much part of the city life, as well as being steeped in the tango music of his homeland. Playing the bandoneon, an Argentinian form of accordion, he developed an eclectic outlook, playing music that transcended the genres, with its roots in Latin forms but incorporating classical motifs and tinged with various jazz influences. Piazzolla told the BBC: “Around 1955 in Argentina, the tango started dying. The music of Elvis Presley and Bill Haley had started comi ng into Argentina and the younger generation were getting more excited with rock ’n’ roll and had lost interest in tango. Then The Beatles came in the ’60s and that was the end of the tango…” But, as Piazzolla points out, his music lived on because the young people understood it and “it wasn’t boring.” Pressed on 140g black vinyl, this nine-track LP showcases his skills as a composer, player and arranger through some pieces from the latter part of his career, including tracks from film scores.