By Pablo Gianera
Perhaps to speak about an explosion or a rebirth of the Argentinian Jazz sounds like an exaggeration. Since 1999 however a new generation of musicians has appeared on stage. This isn't a brand new generation (musicians are 25-40 years old) but it has just begun to edit CDs.
Looking back in time, between the late seventies and the early eighties many of great ones came to Buenos Aires: from Gerry Mulligan to Dexter Gordon, from Bill Evans to Charles Mingus. The dark side of this spectacular show window was the exile of many artists and the paralysis of the industry. Military dictatorship years. That's why gifted and long career musicians recorded only two or three albums, not often reissued on CD.
Now again 2000 brought a lot of great visitors (Dave Holland Quintet, Brad Mehldau, Bill Frisell, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Keith Jarrett, Dave Douglas with Misha Mengelberg) to Buenos Aires and the Festival de los Siete Lagos. This festival was organized by the National Government as a way to promote the tourism. As usual, an important account of money has been spent on this event instead of being used to support the work of local musicians. The situation, however, is pretty lucky different from 20 years ago.
Fortunately, in the last two years the musical climate has warmed. There was not only international artists. Besides a really active circuit of jazz places, a handful of diverse and important CDs has been issued. At the same time old recordings are being reissued (as Enrique "Mono" Villegas' "Encuentro" with Willie Cook and Paul Gonsalves), among the new ones it is essential to mention "Quinteto Urbano" by Quinteto Urbano , Máximo Rodríguez Quinteto, "Buenos" by guitarist Javier Cohen, "Fullmoon" by singer Eleonora Eubel, and above all "3D" by Guillermo Bazzola (Summer Quartet leader) and Ernesto Jodos' "Sexteto". On the other hand, pianist Adrián Iaies' "Las tardecitas del Minton's was nominated for a Grammy Ward for Best Album in the Latin Jazz category (which doesn't mean enough, indeed).
Quinteto Urbano, formed by Juan Cruz de Urquiza (trumpet and leader), Rodrigo Domínguez (tenor sax), Diego Schissi (piano), Guillermo Delgado (bass) and Oscar Giunta (drums), develops an ironic stunning and intelligent hard bop. Domínguez -who is also a member of Bazzola's Summer Quartet- and Urquiza are two of the most interesting musicians of these years.
Bazzola's as well Jodos' first albums as leaders represented remarkable achievements. By the way, they have recorded "Long Ago" together, an unusual duet. Besides both of them have participated in other CDs as much as interesting as it. Guitarist Bazzola, for example, has done an excellent work in Eubel's "Fullmoon", where he has been in charge of the arrangements.
Born in 1962, Bazzola's background comprises clinics by important musicians like Jim Hall, Joe Diorio, Gary Burton, Jack DeJohnette, Mike Stern, John Stowell and Marc Copland. In February, 1995 studied privately with John Abercrombie, a major evident influence on him. Anyway, his art is ductile: in "3D" the tunes goes from the lyrical (Waltham Rose) to the infectious ("Pequenino"). As you can listen, his technique, skill and sensitiveness are amazing. If you're looking for more information, schedule and music, I suggest to check out his Web site (http://www.geocities.com/ghbazzola).
Jodos - Major in Professional at Berklee College of Music- teamed up in 1997 with drummer Eduardo Casalla trio; with him and Urquiza and Hernán Merlo (bass) he recorded "Impronta", a work based on standards which has been released this month. With his completely meditated though fresh approach to improvisation, pianist-composer Jodos is one of the great figures (maybe the greatest) of nowadays Argentinian jazz. His CD, with Enrique Norris (another figure to discover) on cornet, Sergio Verdinelli (drums), Natalio Sued and Carlos Lastra (saxophones), was probably the best of the last year. This record found Jodos (27 years old) strangely mature and serene.
As Marc Copland wrote in the liner notes to "Ernesto Jodos Sexteto", "behind the music there is a true spirit". These artists -their spirit- will probably haunt the future jazz musicians in Argentina. Something will come out of this generation. And that something will be very influential, memorable and, most important, it will be beautiful.
