Piazzolla Forever

by Jim Todd Richard Galliano's category-defying blend of European folk music, Astor Piazzolla's tango nueve, and jazz and improvisational elements expands even further on Piazzolla Forever, his August 2002 recording from the Willisau Jazz Festival in Switzerland. Fans who believe they have handle on what the extraordinary accordion and bandoneon virtuoso is capable of will have to think again once they take in the feast that is Piazzolla Forever (the CD takes its name from Galliano's world tour with this music and group of musicians). The work of Galliano's mentor, Piazzolla, is the starting point, but its transformation in the hands of the Galliano septet is so profound and personal that it acquires a wholly new character through the multiple layers of polyphonic firepower of the five-piece string section, Hervé Sellin's piano, and the orchestral might of Galliano's own playing. While the performances are not principally vehicles for improvisation, and while outright soloing is generally limited to Galliano and violinist Jean Marc Phillips-Varjabédian, the music is utterly freewheeling and spontaneous. The impression is often one of roller coasters on a collision course that miraculously arc past one another at the last moment to escape fatal impact. The flow between players is seamless, as the ensemble shifts from careening off in multiple directions to more delicate melodic passages to inspired solo turns, all as if it were a single organism. This is music that commands the listener to indulge. It is a dense, heavy, and heady spread that will sustain and nourish those who abandon themselves to its riches.