Tango: Zero Hour

1	Tanguedia III 4:39
2	Milonga Del Angel 6:30
3	Concierto Para Quinteto 9:00
4	Milonga Loca 3:05
5	Michelangelo '70 2:50
6	Contrabajissimo 10:18
7	Mumuki 9:32

Barnes & Noble

To appreciate the phenomenon of Astor Piazzolla, a tango innovator of such mythic proportions that he was cursed as "the tango assassin," there is only one place to start: at Zero Hour. Piazzolla wouldn't argue, since he once pronounced the 1986 album "absolutely the greatest record I've made in my entire life." The session -- cut after Piazzolla had spent a decade with his most remarkable ensemble, the New Tango Quintet -- is simply a masterwork in every sense of the term. It was Piazzolla's dream that tango, a dance music born in the bordellos and backstreets of Buenos Aires, could become listener's music, and with a quintet representing a confluence of jazzmen and classically trained players (Pablo Zeigler, Horacio Malvicino Sr., Fernando Suárez Paz, Héctor Console), his dream became reality. Zero Hour exploits their ability to turn from raunchy, crushed velvet heat to cool, artfully poised compositions. Opening with the mantralike voices of the quintet, "Tanguedia III" suggests the aspects of benediction and exorcism to come. "Milonga del Angel" opens with ethereal guitar sketches before settling into a mournful plaint. The highlight, "Contrabajísimo," is by turns bludgeoning and cruel, heartbreakingly sweet, picaresque and cinematic. This is music to get lost in.

All Music Guide

Considered by Piazzolla to be his best work, 1986's Tango Zero Hour was the culmination of a career that began in Argentina in the 1930s. Piazzolla started out auspiciously enough working with one of the brightest lights of the classic tango era, singer Carlos Gardél. After Gardél's tragic death in 1935 (by turning down an offer to tour with the singer at the age of 13, Piazzolla amazingly avoided the plane crash that killed Gardél), Piazzolla went on to perfect his bandoneón playing in various tango bands during the '40s and '50s, eventually studying with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Like she did with so many other great talents like Aaron Copeland and Quincy Jones, Boulanger encouraged Piazzolla to find a new way of playing his county's music. Piazzolla began experimenting and soon enough perfected what is now known as "nuevo tango." Moving tango music into the more serious area of high-art composition, Piazzolla added eccentric and, at times, avant-garde touches to the traditional format; he gained the appreciation of adventurous music lovers worldwide while alienating tango purists back home. Tango Zero Hour is the fruition of his groundbreaking work and one of the most amazing albums released during the latter years of the 20th century. Joined by his Quinteto Tango Nuevo featuring violin, piano, guitar, and bass, Piazzolla offers up seven original tango gems that take in the noirish, "Zero Hour" world found between midnight and dawn. Essential for all music lovers. Stephen Cook