Astor and Tango

by Gary Burton (12 March 2009)

Well, where to start? For the benefit of anyone unfamiliar with tango, Astor Piazzolla was the one-man star of contemporary tango. He was not only a major composer (wrote about 60 recordings worth of original music in his lifetime, including an opera and some symphonic works), but was considered the greatest virtuoso on the bandoneon, the lead instrument in tango ensembles. For comparison, that would make him kind of a combination of Duke Ellington, Aaron Copeland, and Bill Evans. A pretty amazing musician.

I met him first when I was touring with Stan Getz in 1965 and we shared the stage for a few nights in Buenos Aires with his group. I had never heard tango before and was blown away by the sophistication and complexity of their music. That was a lucky break for me, because he remembered me and twenty years later came to one of my concerts in Paris, where he was living at that time. He introduced himself and asked if I remembered him. And, went on to ask if I would be interested in doing some kind of project together. I heartily agreed, but then I didn't hear from him for a couple of years, so I thought he had lost interest.

One day as I was walking out of my building at Berklee, the phone operator stopped me to tell me I had a call from Paris. It was Astor, ready to start on our project. We were both going to be in Argentina a month or two later, so we agreed to meet and talk things over. I warned him not to write anything till we talked. People often try to write things for vibes thinking it's like a piano, and then I have to rearrange most of it to make it playable. When he showed up the first night of my gig in Buenos Aires, he was all excited and said he couldn't stop thinking about the music and he had gone ahead and written it all. Six pieces altogether. I shuddered at what lay ahead. Luckily, I didn't have to make many voicing adjustments. But it was very different music for me. No chord symbols, no choruses for improvising. 90% all written out.

Meanwhile, my agent had gone to work and lined up a tour of Europe, a tour of Japan and a record deal. So, we were kind of committed, and I hadn't seen a note of the music yet. He sent me my parts a month before the first tour. I couldn't really practice it very well because I had no idea what the rest of the band was going to be playing. We had two days to rehearse as a group before the tour started in Ravenna, Italy. It was a struggle for me and for the rest of the group, but we made it through the first concert. We recorded the fourth concert of the tour at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. At the time, I wasn't so sure we had done a good enough job for a record, but when I heard the tapes, I was thrilled. It's still one of my favorite records. (Called NEW TANGO, released in 1986 on Atlantic/WEA).

During the time I spent with Astor I learned a lot about music. Although jazz is by nature an expressive, dramatic music, I found tango to be even more passionate. And my jazz playing became stronger and more expressive after my tango experiences. He was a very intense, energetic guy. Kind of scary, too. He had a reputation for tantrums and was constantly at war with critics, record labels, promoters, etc. I even witnessed a few occasions where he lost it with a couple of promoters. But, he was terrific toward me and the other musicians. His group had been together for many years, and they played so very well together. It was a joy to be part of their scene for a while. I stayed in touch with Astor after that year of off and on playing, and we planned to do another project. He was working on another opera at the time, and spent some months in New York working with a lyricist. I went to see him a couple of times. We would have lunch and talk about his opera, and about what we might do next. But, then I got a phone call from his sister-in-law telling me that he had suffered a major stroke. Although he survived for about a year, in a nearly paralyzed state, he finally passed away as a result.

I figured that was the end of my tango experience, till a friend and promoter in Argentina suggested I get the original musicians together again to record a tribute to Astor. The group members had all gone their separate ways after Astor passed away, so it was a major thing to get them back together again. Word got out that the group had reunited and was making a record in Buenos Aires. The mayor's office called to ask if we would agree to do a free concert at the big city library. So, after the record dates were completed, we stayed on to do the concert. It was supposed to be for about 2000 people, but the turnout was overwhelming. So, they set up a large jumbo-tron on the lawn beside the library, and it was estimated there were 10,000 people watching the concert on the video screen. That was the power of Astor's music. He is a national hero for Argentina.

I toured some more with the Piazzolla musicians, we made two CD's of Astor's music, in '97 and 2000, and now I am returning to reunite the group one more time for a tour and DVD live concert recording. It's been one of the most enjoyable and fulfilling experiences in my career to become a part of Astor's legacy. His music is so melodic and passionate. His virtuosity was breaktaking. As a person, he was inspirational. Definitely one of the most important musical figures of his time, and I was very lucky to get to play with him. Gary B.

Credit: VibesWorkshop.com forum