Hot Ticket: Tango Meets Jazz

Pablo Ziegler Quartet with Regina Carter in “Tango Meets Jazz”, February 16, 2013

The Globe and Mail

by Jennifer Van Evra

He is one of tango’s most renowned masters and a former collaborator of Astor Piazzolla, the man who famously put a contemporary spin on the steamy Argentinean form.

She is one of the most popular violinists in modern music, and has performed alongside greats including Wynton Marsalis, Aretha Franklin, Lauryn Hill and Billy Joel, infusing her music with styles from African roots to R&B to classical.

Together, tango pianist Pablo Ziegler – the last surviving member of Mr. Piazzolla’s famed quintet – and jazz’s Regina Carter, along with a band that includes bassist Pedro Giraudo, guitarist Claudio Ragazzi and bandoneon player Hector del Curto, are promising to add some serious spice to this Valentine’s Day weekend.

“The blend we have with Regina is really, really unique,” says Mr. Ziegler, who last performed in Vancouver with Mr. Piazzolla in the 1980s. “There is real chemistry between her music and my music, so we are very happy to play with her.”

But concertgoers shouldn’t expect the type of tango that North Americans find in Hollywood movies and TV dance competitions; the Buenos Aires-born composer emphasizes that this is tango for the concert stage, not the dance hall, and that it blends jazz and classical music with the bandoneon­infused form.

Still, it retains all the fire that has kept tango popular for more than 150 years.

“There are a lot of contemporary elements, but inside it’s rhythm, it’s harmony, it’s orchestration,” Mr. Ziegler enthuses.  “And it’s from the heart.”