La Balteuband – Argentine Jazz – Not Yet Records

by | May 4, 2007 | Jazz CD Reviews | 0 comments

La Balteuband – Argentine Jazz – Not Yet Records 2006, **** [www.emilioteubal.com]:

(Emilio Teubal, piano/Fender Rhodes; Franco Pinna, drums/Bombo Leguaro; Moto Fukushima, 6-string electric bass; Kobi Salomon, clarinet/soprano sax; Felipe Salles, tenor & soprano sax; Guest: Mariano Gil, flute on tracks 2 & 3)

Argentine pianist and composer Emilio Teubal has been living in NYC since 1999. He studied jazz at City College of New York and has performed at such venues in NYC as Birdland, the Knitting Factory, and Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola. His nine original compositions on this CD blend jazz elements with elements of Argentine music such as tango and folk-derived rhythms such as the chacarera and the zamba.  His music alternates between composed structures and sections open for improvisation by each member of the band. Some of Teubal’s major influences include Astor Piazolla, Hermeto, Egberto Gismonti, as well as jazz masters such as Ellington, Gil Evans and Charles Mingus.

The music is an attractive mix of Latin jazz with a tango orientation. I especially liked the emphasis on soprano sax and flute which gives the album a nice light and swinging feeling.  Also the fact that there are no vocals and no long sections of endlessly repeated montuna passages which bore the heck out of me in some Latin jazz recordings. Being something of a tango aficiando, I liked this more than the usual Afro-Cuban jazz. It is an interesting mix of ethnic and jazz music, with much in common with the emerging genre of flamenco jazz.

TrackList: A Caballo, Capinias, El Sausa, Twisted Title, Sad Stories, AC in Ab, Berry, Intro, Sin Pestanias.

– John Henry 

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