CONCERT OF
TANGO JAZZ QUARTET (Argentina) & BELGRADE YOUTH ORCHESTRA
Martín Rao de Vita, on bass
Santiago Villalba, on piano
Ezequiel Vargas, on drums
Gustavo Firmenich, on tenor sax & clarinet
Vuk Wolkov Popović, conductor
The concert will take place on
Friday, August 18th, 2023 at 20 h in
Art Centre GUARNERIUS
Information and tickets reservation: info@guarnerius.rs or 066/8028-368
I was quite amazed at just how great groove this was! The band could be swinging, rocking, funking, jazzing or whatever, that tango rhythm was embedded in it all. That was the charm of this unique band. Rarely the tempo remain constant with mood swings plenty! This “senors” are tension building maestros”
By Lance Liddle. Bebop Spoken Here, Newcastle upon Tyne
“Tango Jazz Quartet, from Argentina. A foursome that demonstrates how tango and its variants support a music culture more than they offer just an excuse to take the floor with risqué intent, the TJQ tour the world like missionaries”.
By Nigel Jarret. Wales Arts, Review
Tango Jazz Quartet from Argentina, mixes the melodic and rhythmic patterns of Tango with the harmonies and improvisation of Jazz. This new approach to Tango and Jazz has received an enthusiastic reaction both in Argentina as well as internationally. The music of Tango Jazz Quartet goes from the traditional tango to the music of Astor Piazzola without ever abandoning the territory of jazz
Tango Jazz Quartet from Argentina, mixes the melodic and rhythmic patterns of Tango with the harmonies and improvisation of Jazz. This new approach to Tango and Jazz has received an enthusiastic reaction both in Argentina as well as internationally. The music of Tango Jazz Quartet goes from the traditional tango to the music of Astor Piazzola without ever abandoning the territory of jazz.
With 26 international tours performed and more than 30 countries visited, Tango Jazz Quartet performed in the most prestigious venues around the world such as San José Summer Jazz Festival, San José California, Shanghai Jazz Festival, Nisville International Jazz, Festival, Serbia; Tango & Jazz Festival, Tomsk, Russia, Hong Kong Jazz Festival, Joy of Jazz Festival, Johannesburg; Sunset-Sunside, Paris; Porgy & Bess, Vienna, The Music Village, Brussels; Snug Harbor,New Orleans, BFlat, Berlin, among many more. Saxophonist and clarinetist Gustavo Firmenich, leader of TJQrecreated with this band the dancing evenings that were common in the golden era of the tango in Buenos Aires, where Tango and Jazz lived together although playing separately. Tango Jazz Quartet proposed a fusion of how much both songs had in common and adding something distinctive of the jazz that the tango lacked: Improvisation. This musical concept has a great reception of the very different publics around the world. “It is the first time that I hear a fusion of Jazz and Tango that works and makes sense”, said about Tango Jazz Quartet the world‐renowned French accordionist Richard Galliano.
In 2019 TJQ toured Europe (France, Switzerland, Spain and Turkey) in February-March and a tour of Brazil the first week of May where he premiered his concert for Quartet and Symphony Orchestra at the Opera Theater of Ponta Grossa next to the Symphony Orchestra of Ponta Grossa. And from August 9 to September 22, 2019 TJQ made its 11th tour of Europe, in which it toured 16 countries and performed 41 concerts in 45 days of tour. In 2018 the group visited for the second time in the United States performing in several New York Jazz clubs, highlighting its performance in the prestigious Smalls Jazz Club and its presentation with the Big Band by Vincent Giordano (musician of several films by Woody Allen and Francis Ford Coppola) who addressed the themes of the quartet repertoire. The other highlight was the group’s participation in the San Jose Jazz Festival in California and New Orleans, where they performed at the Snug Harbor Jazz Club and were honored by the prestigious trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis to play with his quintet.
In Europe, TJQ presented its new album recorded live in 2017 at the Sunset-Sunside Jazz Club in Paris. In the same year during the winter, Tango Jazz Quartet played two weeks in different stages of Switzerland and offered 2 concerts in Istanbul, one of them in the prestigious Nardis Jazz Club Istambul. And in the summer he returned to Europe for the ninth time in a row playing in more than 10 countries.
After more than 12 years of uninterrupted tours, Tango Jazz Quartet has consolidated its presence in the world as the group performed throughout Europe, the United States, Brazil, Africa, Russia and China and performed for 8 consecutive years at Sunset -Sundside Jazz Club in Paris, for the fifth time in a row at the Porgy & Bess Jazz Club in Vienna, five performances at the prestigious Guarnerius Institute in Belgrade and for the third time in a row at the Nisville International Jazz Festival in Serbia. There TJQ directed the “Nisville Tango Big Band”, a joint project with the festival, formed by TJQ and young Serbian musicians, who were trained and directed by Gustavo Firmenich, the leader of TJQ.
The group also consolidated its presence in the United Kingdom, performing in London at the Pizza Express Jazz Club in London, and for the second time at the Black Mountin Jazz Festival in Avergavenny Wales, The Verdict Jazz Club, in Brighton, The Bear Jazz Club, in Luton, the Saltburn Art Center and The Globe Jazz Club in Newcastle Upon Tyne, where TJQ is the sponsor of “Newcastle Tango Milonga”, which started from their performance there in 2016. The group also played at the Hamstead Jazz Club of London, the Matt & Phreds Jazz Club of Manchester, the Hot Club of Cardiff Wales, among others. In addition the group produced 2 films: the documentary “Tango meets Jazz” which was presented at the 2020 Black Mountian Jazz Festival in Avergavenny Wales and “Celebraton of the Centenary of Composer & Muscian Astor Piazzolla” which was premiered in 2021 Brecon Jazz Festival.
Tango Jazz Quartet is also a regular visitor to Eastern Europe. There he performed in jazz clubs in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Romania and Poland, in the latter country, the group has already played for two consecutive years at the prestigious Harris Piano Jazz Club in Krakow , cataloged by the English newspaper “The Guardian” among the 10 most important jazz clubs in Europe. An important milestone was the symphonic concert in tribute to Astor Piazzolla peeformed on the Main Stage of the 2021 Nisville Jazz Fetival in Serbia together with the Serbian Naissus Youth Philharmonic Orchestra.
Declared since 2012 “Musical Group of Cultural Interest” by the Argentine Foreign Ministry last year Tango Jazz Quartet was awarded the “Ambassadors of Tango” diploma by the Legislature of the City of Buenos Aires.
On the other hand, Gustavo Firmenich made European tours in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2022 with other projects he leads: The Cañuelas Orchestra, The Malbec Orchestra, The Monte Orchestra, and Sotavento Big Band. These last two bands participated in the 2017 and 2019 editions of the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland and Sotavento Big Band was presented in 2015 and 2019 and The MAlbec Orchestra in 2022 at the Main Stage of the Nisville International Jazz Festival, in Serbia.