ALEX ROITMAN TANGO ENSEMBLE

LA COCINA DE TANGO

ARTE-FL Records

Alex Roitman, bandoneon/composer; Nayiri Piloyan, violin; Mayu Funaba, piano; Carlos Maldonado Cisneros, double bass.

Tango music originated in the late 1800s near the border of Argentina and Uruguay.  It is greatly influenced by two cultures: African and European. By the time the 1900s rolled around, Tango music had become popular worldwide and was attributed to Argentina.

The title of this album, “La Cocina de Tango” is borrowed from the Tango Kitchen that was constructed for the Stowe Tango Music Festival. This album was recorded with an ensemble that Roitman leads in Montreal, Canada.  As a nomad musician and also a brilliant bandoneon player, Roitman founded this Tango-inspired group a few years back. He lives in Sarasota, Florida during the winter, then lives in the Boston, Massachusetts area during the summer. Then, there are the tour dates that carry him here, there, and everywhere.

Alex Roitman’s Tango Ensemble opens with “Anibal Troilo” that establishes the tone and beauty of this art form. Nayiri Piloyan’s violin offers a breathtaking solo and Alex Roitman is colorful as a master of the bandoneon, an instrument that looks very much like an accordion and was born from the concertina family.

Roitman has composed four original Tangos for this production.  One is called “Panadera” and quickly becomes one of my favorites.  On this arrangement, Mayu Funaba is featured brightly on the piano. The melody is catchy and the arrangement moves in waves of beauty, rolling across my listening room.

“Chau, Paris” was composed by A. Piazzolla.  The tango ensemble also covered his tune “Marron y Azul.”  “Chau, Paris” reminds me a lot of my time in Paris. Some of the clubs I visited there celebrated this Argentine music, using the accordion and bandoneon. They are definitely instruments used in French music productions.

The tune titled “El Ultimo Encuentro” is another original by Roitman.  It is a Tango-waltz and offers an arrangement that invited Funaba to feature his piano chops. Roitman pushes the ¾ tempo around my listening room on his bandoneon, prodded ahead by Carlos Maldonado Cisneros on double bass, using a two-feel to pump the waltz into ¾ place. It’s a unique arrangement.

Every tango piece translated on this album is distinctive in its own way.  I am especially impressed by Alex Roitman’s compositions.  They are pleasure to my ears, including the dramatic, lovely “Ruta Montañosa.”  At the next Tango Festival, look for the name of Alex Roitman or simply get this album and soak up the beauty and energy of the Tango delivered in the capable hands of Alex Roitman’s Tango Ensemble.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil