Reviews of Pablo Aslan "AVANTANGO" Zoho Music

JazzTimes, September 2004

Pablo Aslan’s new CD, Avantango, reinforces the idea that improvised music from throughout the world can dip into the well of jazz to create something refreshingly new that doesn't really need hyphenated identity.

Aslan is a bassist and composer from Buenos Aires, the traditional home of the tango. Avantango is also the name of his sextet, a collective of musicians who are not afraid to bend the rules of both jazz and tango. While some may want to call it tango-jazz, the music is much more than that.

The group features the accordion-like bandoneon in its front line (played by Hector del Curto) alongside trumpeter Diego Urcola and tenor saxophonist Oscar Feldman. We can thank violinist Leonardo Suarez Paz for the beautiful shadowing of the horns on violin. The piano is what the tangueros in this group have in common with jazz. Both Dario Eskenazi and Gustavo Casenave play with distinct straightahead jazz feeling at times and at other times they meld into the elaborate voicing of the tango.

Just as Carlos Jobim looms over Brazilian music, so looms Astor Piazolla over contemporary tango. Five of this CD's 12 cuts are Piazolla compositions. Aslan also includes a tango classic (sung by vocalist Roxana Fontan) and offers five of his own tunes. It is clear that Aslan's music is meant to push the envelope. His tunes are angular, full of nice tracks and turns, and are always propelled by the elegant tango rhythm. Trumpeter Urcola brings it back to jazz with fiery solos that offer more than a nod to the milonga feel of the best tango. And speaking of looming presences, saxophonist Feldman at times sounds like an early Gato Barbieri (Argentina's own jazz legend).

So do we really need to call Pablo Aslan a tango-jazz musician? I don’t think so. It is enough to call him a leading voice in improvised music, and Avantango could be his calling card.
FELIX CONTRERAS

JAZZIZ, September 2004:

Buenos Aires native Aslan, a bassist and composer now based in New York is strongly grounded in the tradition of the homeland's cherished tango. But following the lead of his stylistic mentor, the late modern tango innovator Astor Piazzolla. Aslan demonstrates that the century-old style is capable of absorbing a wide range of modern and traditional elements without sacrificing its trademark rhythmic structure, inherent charm, and deeply soulful character.

These 12 tracks are roughly split between Piazzolla classics and Aslan’s own works. Aslan capitalizes on the structural complexity and thematic warmth of traditional tango, rather than using the idiom as an exotic springboard for jazz improvisation. From the opening bar to the last, this is tango puro to the core.
“Sabateando”, the first tune he penned for the group more than fulfills Aslan’s post Piazzolla modernist vision. The leader’s bowed lines and percussive accents anchor trumpeter Diego Urcola’s countermelody, a Gato Barbieri-influenced solo by tenor man Oscar Feldman, lithe piano work by Dario Eskenazi, and a jagged unison of horns, violin and bandoneon. On Piazzolla’s excruciatingly lovely “Vuelvo al Sur”, polished tango vocalist Roxana Fontan stunningly complements Aslanís lavish arrangement.
Aslan's “Derviche”, the opening track, with violinist Leonardo Suarez Paz and bandoneon player Hector Del Curto personifies what the new tango is all about. Much more than just a fresh breeze from the south, Avantango’s offerings are so rich and complex that each track offers an album’s worth of rewards.
MARK HOLSTON