TANGO-JAZZ SUMMIT (By Hostel Buenos Aires)

The fifties were years of experimentation for jazz. Bop had passed, cool had had its spectacular introduction by Miles Davis and many American jazz musicians were willing to revitalize. These were the years of the trips of Stan Getz to Brazil, when he recorded his wonderful records with João Gilberto and boosted the fusion between jazz and bossanova. Another great trumpet player, Dizzy Gillespie, visited Buenos Aires in that time.

In the same route of musical fusion, Dizzy wanted to mix American jazz with Argentine tango. He landed in Buenos Aires in the winter of 1956. After a couple of shows with his band, one night he met a true tango star of that time, Osvaldo Fresedo, who leaded one of the most important tango orchestras. The owner of the place, Fresedo itself, invited him for a drink. Something was starting.



A day later, they would record “Rendez-vous Porteño” (Rendez-vous was the name of Fresedo’s bar) which would become the first tango-jazz recording. The eccentric Gillespie asked for a horse and ride from his hotel to the bar dressed as a gaucho (a traditional Argentine country inhabitant). They recorded four tangos that night: “Vida mía”, “Capricho de amor”, “Preludio número 3” and “Adiós muchachos”. Although the tango prevails, the indelible mark of Dizzy can be recognized.

In that exceptional meeting also took part two young talents as the American director and arranger Quincy Jones and the Argentine composer Lalo Schifrin. Though not so successful as the fusion between jazz and bossanova, the fusion of jazz and tango would return in the 70 and 80 with the genius of Astor Piazzolla. A history that continues to break boundaries, which started on that cold Buenos Aires night of 1956.