Most musicians work with a wide range of other collaborators over time, but only a precious few become so empathically close as to engender ongoing relationships. It's no surprise that Argentinean bandoneonist Dino Saluzzi has continued to work with his brother, saxophonist/clarinetist Felix, their genetic bond clearly apparent on Dino Saluzzi Group recordings like Juan Condori (ECM, 2006). The bandoneonist's extra-familial bond with German-born cellist Anja Lechner—first, in his collaboration with the Rosamunde Quartette on Kultrum (ECM, 1998), and nearly a decade later on their sublime duo recording, Ojos Negros (ECM, 2007)—is no less profound. Saluzzi's decision to bring all three together for 2010's ElEncuentro (ECM)—exploring his ongoing interest in the marriage Argentinean folk tradition with more expansive classical constructs—yielded equally impressive results.
Contrasting El Encuentro's larger sonic palette with The Netherlands' Metropole Orchestra, Navidad de losAndes returns to Ojos Negros' more intimate environs and an equally elemental set of material, almost exclusively composed by Saluzzi. While not suggesting there isn't detailed writing at play, Saluzzi relies more completely on the trio's intrinsic chemistry and shared language, and the glorious combined timbre of this uniquely well-matched set of instruments; the combination of air-driven reeds and bowed strings creating a wondrous single voice, while bandoneon and saxophone conjoin for as seamless a marriage here as Norwegian saxophonist Trygve Seim did with accordionist Frode Haltli on Yeraz (ECM, 2008).
With Felix loosely representing the folk and jazz traditions and Lechner a more classical frame of reference, bandoneonist Dino has formed a perfect trifecta, pushing and pulling what is, at times, an equilateral triangle, at other times, one far more weighted towards specific concerns—and, at times, within the confines of a single composition. "Gabriel Kondor" begins unequivocally in folklore, with Saluzzi's bandoneon alone evoking its cinematic imagery of a small town at the foot of the Andes, but when Lechner enters, the rich tonality of her cello somehow moves the image somewhere less rural. Elsewhere, the medley of Saluzzi's "Candor" with "Soledad," written by singer/songwriter/actor Carlos Gardel—a prominent figure in the history of the tango—wears its heart more decidedly on its sleeve, with Felix's tenor saxophone a mellifluous counterpoint to his brother's unerring sensitivity, while Lechner's quiet sound of fluttering wings and gentle whistles begins "Flora De Tuna" in gentle stasis, its stronger melody gradually culminating in a delicate intertwining of clarinet, cello and bandoneon, ebbing and flowing like a slow journey through a sub-Andean forest.
As Saluzzi and his partners blur the line between form and freedom, Navidad de los Andes' cinematic narrative unveils over the course of an hour, moving from a heightened sense of perception to places where the barest of whispers bears greater import. Astor Piazzolla popularized the bandoneon and brought tango into a modern age, but it's Saluzzi who's given the broader Argentinean tradition a more expansive stylistic purview; only when drawing together his entire ECM discography, beginning with 1983's solo Kultrum, is his importance fully revealed. A significant signpost along the way, Navidad de los Andes is another compelling addition to the septuagenarian bandoneonist's still unfolding oeuvre. - John Kelman
If there is an actual sonic intersection between the natural world and music, then Navidad de los Andes, the collaborative recording between master bandoneonist and composer Dino Saluzzi, his younger brother, saxophonist Felix Saluzzi, and German cellist Anja Lechner has perhaps found it. The brothers have been playing music together for over 60 years; Lechner has been working with the elder Saluzzi since Kultrum in the mid-'90s. Felix and Lechner were both featured soloists on Saluzzi's 2009 orchestral recording El Encuentro. That said, these previous recordings were but preparation for Navidad de los Andes, a collection of "tunes" where the boundaries between compositional jazz and structured improvisation blur. These moody, wistful pieces reflect everything from the quality of light to the mountainous landscapes of the region to village dances to historical and imagined memory. As a concept, time, in all tenses is called upon to bear witness and act as a prophet. Western classical, jazz, and Andean folk musics meld into something wholly other. The tonal possibilities inherent in Lechner's instrument are given wide range; her sonorities moves from the bowed upper ranges of the instrument, before diving, in a single moment, into plucked lower registers. They point forward always, careful to acknowledge the immediate present and nod respectfully to the past. The bandoneon is the shimmering presence of the what has gone before. Its mournful chords and sprightly touches bear witness to change, illumine its impact, and accept it all with a heart of joy as well as grief. Felix's saxophone and clarinet, though they don't appear on every track, act as a bridge instrument. He creates song-like phrases as a way of finding gravity in the ethereal investigations of the other players, and brings them into the world quietly and authoritatively, as on the haunting "Sucesos." On the gorgeous "Requerdos de Bohemia," he manifests blues inside a tango melody. On "Variaciones Sobre una Melodía Popular de José L. Padul," his phrases underscore not only the original motifs, but sing of the newness discovered in them by Lechner and Dino in a spacious dance of slow but dramatic movements. While the music here is often brooding, it is never less than poetic, and often approaches the sublime. - Tom Jurek
Tracks
1 Flora De Tuna (Dino Saluzzi)
2 Sucesos (Dino Saluzzi)
3 Fragments (From "Trio For Clarinet And Two Bandoneons") (Dino Saluzzi)
4 Son Qo'ñati (Dino Saluzzi)
5 Requerdos De Bohemia (Enrique Delfino/Manuel Romero arr. Dino Saluzzi)
6 Gabriel Kondor (Dino Saluzzi)
7 El Vals De Nosotros (Dino Saluzzi/Carlos Aparicio)
8 Candor / Soledad (Dino Saluzzi / Carlos Gardel)
9 Variaciones Sobre Una Meodía Popular De José L. Padula (Dino Saluzzi)
10 Ronda De Niños En La Montaña (Dino Saluzzi)
11 Ontoño (Dino Saluzzi)
DINO SALUZZI bandoneon
ANJA LECHNER cello
FELIX SALUZZI tenor saxophone, clarinet
Recorded July 2010 Auditorio Radiotelevisione svizzera, Lugano
ECM 2204 (Germany)