Pablo Ziegler Bajo Cero CD

On Bajo Cero, the internationally renowned pianist Pablo Ziegler is featured in a highly virtuosic duet setting with guitarist Quique Sinesi. The respected veteran of the vibrant Buenos Aires jazz scene and former member of Astor Piazzolla's highly regarded ensembles also invited Walter Castro to play the bandoneon and round out this great musical program of sultry tango and jazz improvisations. Among the beautiful milongas included on this program are "La Rayuela," "Milonga del Adios," and "Planufer Milonga." These are intelligent reflections of the South American dance songs that remain very popular in the southern part of the continent. To vary the song selection, Ziegler includes two of Astor Piazzolla's rarely recorded compositions: "Chin Chin," a recording dedicated to the piano, and "Fuga y Misterio," one of the most complex fugues ever composed by Piazzolla. "Bajo Cero" is but one of the four great originals penned by Ziegler. It is a standout because of its three-part structure and emotional understatements. As with previous efforts as a pianist, composer, and bandleader on his 1990s releases, Pablo Ziegler is in great form and furthers the tango nuevo movement to a new level of interest. ~ Paula Edelstein

After touring with this formation, piano, guitar and bandoneon as a guest, Quique and I finally said to ourselves, "we have to record this!" ...and so we did. We made the arrangement with Klaus' studio in Bonn, Germany, and went there in April 2002, just after we finished our last tour. I had composed new songs, and arranged others.About the new ones, I can say that the milonga "La Rayuela" is one of the songs we enjoyed the most when playing it live. It is arranged very simply, and with large spaces for improvisation. "La Milonga del Adios" is a southern milonga, perhaps more folk than tango in character, based on a phrase in the bass which recalls and quotes from the "Farewell Waltz" by F. Chopin. "Bajo Cero" is a more complex tune, with a structure in three parts which speaks (perhaps through the harmony in its composition) of a feeling of profound desolation which I believe all Argentinians have felt after the economic and social disaster that occurred in our beloved country in these past years."La Fundicion" is a composition I started a long time ago which I needed to finish quickly (a good pretext!) so that it could be recorded for this CD. Maybe this song has the most tango flavor, with a lot of Pugliese's rhythmic style, and it also has lots of room for tango improvisation. "Planufer Milonga" is Sinesi's composition, with a large structure of several parts. Its central section, like some elaborate mirrors, is really fascinating harmonically, with a strong Milonga feel, and with some improvisation in the (Afro - Uruguayan) Candombe rhythm which takes us into the final recapitulation of the theme.It was also fun to record "Chin Chin", a song written by Astor Piazzolla in the eighth decade of his life, and dedicated to the piano, with a very interesting final "coda" where Astor had only indicated "improvise" ... and that's exactly what we did. Then, one of Astor's classics "Fuga y Misterio", the most complex fugue ever written by him, with 12 statements of each theme in the exposition, and with a very inspired final melody. This song is a part of his tango opera "Maria de Buenos Aires".Finally, with a minimum of arrangements and lots of improvisation, we recorded three traditional tangos for the piano and guitar duo, "Flor de Lino", "Yuyo Verde", and "Los Mareados". We enjoyed each of these tunes, as we hope you will as well. Pablo Ziegler Pablo Ziegler, the internationally acclaimed Argentinian pianist, composer and band leader, has been described as the most important artist of the Tango Nuevo, and as the great Astor Piazzolla's legitimate successor. A classically trained pianist and a veteran of the vibrant Buenos Aires jazz scene, Ziegler has taken Tango, South A