Julio Botti Pure Tango

Julio Botti
Pure Tango
Zoho Music

"Pure Tango" is a collaboration between saxophonist Julio Botti and pianist Matias Lanfranco. Introduced to each other in late 2017, they performed a few tunes together and clicked immediately. While Lanfranco hails from a traditional tango tradition that features folkloric music, and Botti integrates modern jazz and nuevo tango, they blended seamlessly. They performed at the Teatro Coliseo in Argentina on September 8, 2018. While a great success, this concert was bittersweet for Botti. "I realized that it would likely be the last concert that my mother would witness," said Botti. His mother, who had struggled valiantly against cancer, would pass away four months later. Wanting to pay tribute and honor his mother, Botti was inspired to record the music from that concert.

Lanfranco and Botti collaborated in this production. After selecting the repertoire and crafting the sophisticated arrangements, Lanfranco came to New York to record the set, first tracking saxophone and piano, and later the rest of the instruments and vocals in Cordoba, Argentina. Botti observed, "This production is a new path for me, celebrating traditional tango, music which I had never performed, but was always somewhere within me." Kabir Sehgal comments in the liner notes, "Pure Tango" is a blend between the vivid colors that traditional tango offers, with its traditional instrumentation -- and the compelling sound of Botti's saxophone."

The blend of traditional tango with Botti's superlative sax makes for stirring listening, with performances ranging from an elegant chamber group to fiery rousing performances. There is "Taquito Militar" that sounds like a musical cousin to a Brazilian choro composition. The facility of both Lanfranco and Botti is evident here. His soprano sax has the warmth of a master clarinetist, and mention should be made of guitarist Gustavo Gancedo. Botti's gorgeous soprano sax is also featured on Lanfranco's waltz "Cuando Llueve," with Gancedo's acoustic guitar prominent. Pablo Ziegler contributed the arrangement to "Nostalgias." Botti's eloquent soprano sax is set against Lanfranco's stately piano and Alejandro Colombatti's bandoneon. "El Día Que Me Quieras" is an enticing duet between Lanfranco's elegant piano and Botti's pensive soprano sax. Another alluring duet between the two is Botti's 'Recordando" with a simple melody that evokes memories of his mother for Botti.

María Jose Rojas sings on several selections. She is a singer who imparts a dramatic flair on the lovely "Cualquiera de Estas Noches" with Botti's tenor sax snaking around her singing. Colombatti's bandoneon adds to the song's atmosphere. The beautiful tango "El Último Café" evokes the Charles Trenet song, "Que reste-t-il de nos amours?" (known in the US as "I Wish You Love.") While not credited on the album, Rojas stamps her personality on the spirited "Oro Y Plata." Botti adds a rousing tenor sax solo. Botti's tenor sax also lends to the bittersweet quality of "Una Canción," where Rojas sings about an alcoholic smitten by a lady.

Combining passion with the imaginative virtuosity of Botti, Lanfranco and the other performers, 'Pure Tango" is a superlative recording.

I received my review copy from a publicist. Here is Julio Botti and Matias Lanfranco performing "Nostalgias."

Julio Botti Sax To Tango

Julio Botti, Pablo Ziegler Producer
Sax To Tango
Zoho Music

"Sax To Tango" is the second CD collaboration between Argentine born, but New York domiciled saxophonist Julio Botti and his celebrated mentor and colleague, Nuevo Tango pianist, arranger and composer Pablo Ziegler. The prior recording, a Latin Grammy nominee, featured classic quintet settings with occasional string quartet accompaniment, while the present recording is more ambitious in its arrangements featuring The University of Southern Denmark Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Argentine conductor Saul Zaks in a selection of nine iconic Astor Piazzolla Nuevo tangos, one Tango standard, and three compositions by producer Ziegler who also plays piano. The recording sessions were scheduled in connection with a live concert of the material.

As Ziegler observes the saxophone was never a traditional tango instrument but he finds Botti able to express Nuevo Tango as if a tango singer and the orchestrations both frame his vocalized and passionate playing but add to the romanticism inherent in the music. This becomes clear on the opening "Primavera Porteña," part of Astor Piazzolla's "Los Cuarro Estaciones Porteñas (The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires)," which was inspired by Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" but composed at different times and not primarily intended to be performed together or in seasonal sequence. This composition is a celebration of spring and followed by "Invierno Porteño," a celebration of winter. Both compositions and the lovely orchestration allow plenty of space for Botti to sing on the soprano and dance through the orchestrations with various shifts in tempo and mood with Ziegler's piano itself adding to the music. Much the same can be said of the performances throughout.

The music is beautiful, passionate and invigorating with the orchestrations enhancing the many delights of Botti's voice as he brings life to the rest of Piazzolla's "Los Cuarro Estaciones Porteñas," along with the beautiful melody of Juan Carlos Cobian's "Nieblas del Riachuelo," the lively "Fuga Y Misterio," with sax dancing along with Ziegler's piano, the Piazzolla composition "Oblivion," with some hauntingly beautiful saxophone, and Ziegler's own "Rojotango," with its sense of drama in the orchestration. "Sax To Tango" is a remarkable recording full of many listening delights.

I received my copy from a publicist. This review originally appeared in the September-October Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 368). Here is a brief video clip to promote this recording.