Sunday 31 May 2009

Tango and Jazz

My boyfriend is not at all into tango which is a shame as it is now such a big part of my life. As I know the dancing part is never going to appeal to him, I was wondering if I could get him to like the music part. He is very into his jazz and when I was reading an article, they mentioned that some tango music is similar to jazz because of its improvisational nature. I’m now hunting for heavily jazz influenced tango music. Anyone got any ideas?

On a slight tangent, we were fortunate enough to actually see Branford Marsalis, an amazing jazz saxophonist live the other week and one of the pieces played was called ‘The Blossom of Parting’. It was a fabulous ballad written by his pianist, Joey Calderazzo and while I was listening to it, I could completely imagine myself dancing tango to it. I have found a recording of it on youtube but the images (of Russia, I believe) have no relevance! but I just wanted to share its wonderful lyricism.


2 comments:

  1. You could try Hugo Diaz' harmonica tangos. Paul plays them occasionally at the Crypt, I don't know of anyone else who does. For contemporary harmonica tango, there's Joe Powers. Or some jazz fans enjoy Piazzolla - have a look for his stuff on YouTube as classical musicians often do it too.

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  2. Nice blog! I saw Joe Powers in San Francisco recently. I am the boyfriend of a very good tango dancer/instructor. I'm just beginning to learn and am trying to aid my discovery with my passion for jazz. In particular, it seems much of the early tango was being recorded at the same time as early jazz was being recorded, and I hear similar orchestration and riffs that seem to be representative of the zeitgeist of the time. Anything you've found helpful to make the connection between jazz and tango is appreciated!

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