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Tango Siempre

Tangents

Galileo Music Communications GMC024

The core trio, Tango Siempre (accordionist Pete Rosser, violinist Ros Stephen, pianist Jonathan Taylor), have been interpreting tango in a variety of musical contexts since 1998, and here they are joined by saxophonist Gilad Atzmon and drummer/electronics master Steve Arg¨elles (plus viola player Bethan Lewis) in a set mainly comprised of in-band originals, but which also includes a polystylistic piece by Atzmon ('Nazareth') and a fresh interpretation of 'La Cumparsita' culminating in a 'sample' of the original.

The most obvious stylistic debt is unsurprisingly owed to Astor Piazzolla's nuevo tango and its most celebrated recorded manifestation, Tango Zero Hour (indeed the album's first two Taylor pieces could have been taken from that album, such is their resemblance to material from it), but what is most impressive about this beguiling and intensely listenable album is the ease and naturalness with which Atzmon and his regular bassist Yaron Stavi fit into the proceedings.

Atzmon's soprano contribution to the slow-burning 'Diablo Slow', for instance, is simply sublime, his tone pure and keening; and his own piece 'Nazareth' seamlessly weaves Middle Eastern cadences and jazz in with tango rhythms to great effect; taking a less overtly jazz-based approach than Paquito D'Rivera (who performed a similar function with Piazzolla), Atzmon (as he did recently with guitarist Nicolas Meier on his Turkish-music album Y¨z) proves yet again just how adaptable and powerful a player he is.

Rosser, Stephen and Taylor continue to mine a wonderfully rich seam of music, and their choice and use of 'jazz' partners on this attractive album has paid rich dividends.