The Rough Dancer and the Cyclical Night [Nonesuch]

Performer: Astor Piazzolla
Artist: Paquito D'Rivera
Producer: Kip Hanrahan; Astor Piazzolla
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Personnel: Astor Piazzolla (bandoneon); Rodolfo Alchourron (electric guitar); Fernando Suarez Paz (violin); Paquito D'Rivera (clarinet, alto saxophone); Pablo Zinger (piano); Andy Gonzalez (bass). Engineers: Don Hunerberg, David Baker, Roger Moutenot. Recorded at Radio City Studio, A&R Studio and Sorcerer Studio, New York, New York in August and September 1987. Includes liner notes by Fernando Gonzalez and Kip Hanrahan. Personnel: Astor Piazzolla (bandoneon); Rodolfo Alchourr�n (electric guitar); Fernando Su�rez Paz (violin); Paquito d'Rivera (clarinet, alto saxophone); Pablo Zinger (piano). Liner Note Author: Kip Hanrahan. Recording information: A & R Studio; Radio City Studio; Sorcerer Studio, NY. Photographer: Charles Reilly. Arranger: Astor Piazzolla. This fine Astor Piazzolla album came on the heels of the tango innovator's universally praised Tango: Zero Hour from 1986. Back again for this outing are Quinteto Nueva Tango members like pianist Pablo Zinger and violinist Fernando Suarez Paz, with guest spots being filled by bassist Andy Gonzalez and Latin jazz alto sax star Paquito d'Rivera. Piazzolla, of course, is in top form throughout, tossing off a wealth of passionate and complex bandoneon solos. Producer Kip Hanrahan also returns from the Zero Hour sessions, providing another spacious-sounding backdrop for the proceedings. Unlike Zero Hour, though, Rough Dancer has more of whimsical feel, with the often perilous shifts in tempo and mood of the earlier record being handled in smoother fashion here. This is possibly due to the fact this piece was used for the musical production Tango Apasionado, which chronicles the history of the tango from its Buenos Aires roots to modern times. Along with Tango: Zero Hour, this Piazzolla release is a must for all his fans and tango lovers in general. ~ Stephen Cook This fine Piazzolla album came on the heels of the tango innovator's universally praised Tango: Zero Hour from 1986. Back again for this outing are Quinteto Nueva Tango members like pianist Pablo Zinger and violinist Fernando Suarez Paz, with guest spots being filled by bassist Andy Gonzalez and Latin jazz alto sax star Paquito D'Rivera. Piazzolla, of course, is in top form throughout, tossing off a wealth of passionate and complex bandoneon solos. Producer Kip Hanrahan also returns from the Zero Hour sessions, providing another spacious sounding backdrop for the proceedings. Unlike Zero Hour, though, Rough Dancer has more of whimsical feel, with the often perilous shifts in tempo and mood of the earlier record being handled in smoother fashion here. This is possibly due to the fact this piece was used for the musical production Tango Apasionado, which chronicles the history of the tango from its Buenos Aires roots to modern times. Along with Tango: Zero Hour, this Piazzolla release is a must for all his fans and tango lovers in general. ~ Stephen Cook The follow-up to Astor Piazzolla's 1986 masterpiece TANGO: ZERO HOUR, THE ROUGH DANCER AND THE CYCLICAL NIGHT ranks alongside its predecessor as one of Piazzolla's finest achievements. With help from his proficient band (comprised of violin, piano, bass, and electric guitar), guest Paquito D'Rivera on alto sax and clarinet, and producer Kip Hanrahan (who helped craft TANGO: ZERO HOUR's soundscapes), Piazolla turns in another superior avant-tango outing. THE ROUGH DANCER is somewhat different in feel than its precursor. As Piazzolla puts it in the liner notes, TANGO: ZERO HOUR "needed the clarity of a vision; this record need the darkness of a nostalgic dream. It's music meant to be played by half-drunk musicians in a bordello." There is, in fact, a strain of looseness and fun here, though the whole is still shot through with the lonely and bittersweet sound of Piazzolla's bandoneon. The compositions are among the master's best (and were used, incidentally, as part of TANGO APASIONADO, a stage production about the history of tango). Overall, this is an excellent album, and an essential purchase for Piazzolla fans. This fine Astor Piazzolla album came on the heels of the tango innovator's universally praised Tango: Zero Hour from 1986. Back again for this outing are Quinteto Nueva Tango members like pianist Pablo Zinger and violinist Fernando Suarez Paz, with guest spots being filled by bassist Andy Gonzalez and Latin jazz alto sax star Paquito d'Rivera. Piazzolla, of course, is in top form throughout, tossing off a wealth of passionate and complex bandoneon solos. Producer Kip Hanrahan also returns from the Zero Hour sessions, providing another spacious-sounding backdrop for the proceedings. Unlike Zero Hour, though, Rough Dancer has more of whimsical feel, with the often perilous shifts in tempo and mood of the earlier record being handled in smoother fashion here. This is possibly due to the fact this piece was used for the musical production Tango Apasionado, which chronicles the history of the tango from its Buenos Aires roots to modern times. Along with Tango: Zero Hour, this Piazzolla release is a must for all his fans and tango lovers in general. ~ Stephen Cook

CMJ (4/17/00, p.18) - "...Hearkens back to the days when tango was played in brothels and bars, which is exactly what Piazzolla intended."

While tango had long been associated with the dancehalls of Buenos Aires, Astor Piazolla reinvented the music for the concert stage. In the 1950s and 1960s, he infused tango with the oblique harmonies of jazz and classical music, as well as new instruments such as electric guitar, and although he may have alienated traditionalists, he gained a worldwide audience seduced by his music's exotic beauty. Over the course of five decades, Piazolla continually expanded the scope of the tango--or "tango nuevo," as his music came to be called--to produce a wealth of inventive, emotionally rich music. He died in 1992.

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