Search - Astor Piazzolla & New Tango Quintet :: Tango: Zero Hour

A unique visionary at his best

greg taylor | Portland, Oregon United States | 06/23/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I will try to be brief in light of the quality of the other reviewers. Two quick points. This man is as unique a musical visionary as Monk, Ornette Coleman, Mingus, or Jimi Hendrix. Like them, he is best heard with his own group. Fernando Suarez Paz (violin) Pable Ziegler (piano), Horacio Malvicino, Sr. (guitar), Hector Console (bass) along with Piazolla on bandoneon comprised one of the greatest quartets in the history of music. Like Coltrane's classic quartet, or some of Muddy Water's groups, these guys present an entire genre of music at its best.
If you are new to Piazolla, some of the melodies will seem almost cliched. This is where the cliches came from. This is why the melodies became standards- because when this group plays them you can hear the joy of discovery, the intensely passionate nature of Piazolla's sound universe.
This is not necessarily music for everyone- what is? But this is a great album by one of the unique voices in the music of the twentieth century. You owe it to your heart and your soul to give it a listen."

THIS IS NOT YOUR GRANDFATHER'S TANGO...

Larry L. Looney | Austin, Texas USA | 11/20/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...but your father might have liked it, if he listened with an open mind. For me - this is absolutely one of the most stunning recordings I've ever heard. Piazzolla (bandoneón) and the musicians he assembled for this quintet (Fernando Suárez Paz, violin; Pablo Ziegler, piano; Horacio Malvicino, Sr., guitar; and Héctor Console, bass) gave the performances of their collective lifetimes when they made this album, recorded in NYC in May of 1986. It is the zenith of Piazzolla's career - and that's saying a lot, considering the contributions he made to music in his lifetime.The music is nuevo tango - the traditional soul of tango, full of the emotion that it has always carried (and with which it carries its listeners and dancers), charged and reborn with all of the grit and grime that exists `at street level'. Gosh - if the tangos we're used to hearing and seeing in the old films made your grandmother blush, this would most certainly put her on the floor in a dead faint. The music is intricately composed - but at the same time, it is FELT in the depths of the soul. There is nothing whatsoever cold and emotionless about it. The musicians themselves are of the highest caliber - some are classically trained, some have their roots in jazz, but they are all under the spell of Piazzolla's vision. The quiet passages purr and stroke the senses, the more strident ones will pick the listener up and toss them around. The music will make you want to close your eyes and drift away one moment, then have you sweating the next.Piazzolla made one more recording with this group, LA CAMORRA, and one featuring some of the same players (but not all of them), THE ROUGH DANCER AND THE CYCLICAL NIGHT (based on a story by the great Argentinean literary master Jorge Luis Borges). These two are very, very good - but ZERO HOUR is his greatest."

Probably my favorite recording of all time.

Larry L. Looney | 08/18/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Aurally stunning from start to finish, this album isn't "easy listening" but is best experienced in total immersion. That said, it's surprisingly accessible, both smooth and mind-bending, a rollercoaster ride of emotions that somehow draws back from the brink at the very moment you think it's going to tip over into schmaltz. It takes a genius like Piazzolla to make music this dramatic without being maudlin. Like Mahler's 9th, it altered my views of dissonance and harmony forever. I know of no recording quite like it.A few Piazzolla fans may prefer his more straightforward works, but I believe that he himself pronounced it his best recording ever. Recordings like "La Camorra..." succeed with a somewhat more rough and impromptu sound; on this record Piazolla and band aim for perfection... and achieve it."