World Music Mix: Clint Bahr(USA) – Puzzlebox (Moonjune Records, 2022)

clint-bahr-puzzlebox

Inextricably linked to the label, the 2003 self-titled debut of Clint Barr‘s seminal NYC-based power trio, Tripod, was MoonJune Record’s fourth release. Harkening back to the same “reaching beyond” mentality which defined the work, Puzzlebox – bassist / vocalist / composer / multi-instrumentalist Barr’s long-awaited epic – is a fitting way to document this most special of occasions: seeing both artist and label going full circle, and in grandiose style!

Delightfully blurring both stylistic and structural approaches, the tight-knit unit Barr has assembled proves as unpredictable as they are adept, articulate and convicted. Described as “a genre-defying global collaboration of artists; a cross-pollination of diverse instruments and talents,” Puzzlebox recalls prog in its early heydays: when albums as uninhibited and offscript as King Crimson’s Lizard and Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica were celebrated, and the Canterbury renaissance was in full swing. Brilliantly arranged and produced, Clint Barr has delivered a multi-faceted, timeless epic … at such a time as this.

CLINT BAHR’s PUZZLEBOX’s release culminates a 20-year relationship between Clint Bahr and Leonardo Pavkovic, as TriPod’s eponymous CD was the fourth album released on MoonJune Records in 2003.

PUZZLEBOX is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Clint Bahr (former member of TriPod, Andromeda & Flash).

PUZZLEBOX is a rock band, a multidimensional “Tabula Rasa” in both compositional and improvisational formats.

PUZZLEBOX is a genre-defying global collaboration of artists, a cross-pollination of diverse instruments and talents.

Featuring:
Clint Bahr – basses & vocals (TriPod)
Peter Banks – guitar (Yes)
Colin Carter – vocals (Flash)
Marilyn Crispell – piano (Pharoah Sanders, Anthony Braxton)
David Cross- violins (King Crimson)
Stephanie Feyne – dialogue (The Dotes)
Billy Ficca – drums (Television)
Dick Griffin – trombone (Sun Ra, Roland Kirk)
Mike Hough – drums (Flash)
David Jackson – woodwinds (Van der Graaf Generator)
Dan Parkington – sitar & violin (Andromeda)
Jeff Schiller – woodwinds (The Roots)

www.puzzlebox.band

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World Music Mix

World Music Mix: The Motet -“Draccus” (single, 2023)

The Motet unveil “Draccus,” the existential second single off their forthcoming instrumental album All Day

Marking the funk-jazz-soul quintet’s 10th studio LP, All Day will release on Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Out now across platforms“The verses in Draccus paint a dark picture of our socio-political landscape. In contrast, the ascending chords on the instrumental choruses hint at optimism for the future.” – Garrett Sayers, bassist for The Motet
For a little over two decades, The Motet have cultivated a fervent fanbase through immaculate live performances and a seamless blend of funk, jazz, soul, and rock. This unique style and cohesive musical chemistry have led to sold-out shows across the nation – including six headlining slots at Red Rocks and sets at festivals such as BonnarooBottlerockElectric ForestBumbershootSummer Camp, and High Sierra.

But even after their 20+ years of accolades and recognition, the legendary outfit – composed of Dave Watts (drums), Joey Porter (keys), Garrett Sayers (bass), Drew Sayers (keys and saxophone), and Ryan Jalbert (guitar) – are still exploring new sonic and thematic ideas.

Now, the band is revving up towards their 10th studio album, All Day, which will release on Wednesday, January 18, 2023. All Day marks The Motet’s first primarily instrumental project since 2009’s electronica-fueled Dig Deep.
Fans got their first taste of All Day with the album’s lead single, “‘79,” a lavish funk and soul epic. With a retro-futurist style, the track takes you into the funky past of the 70s and 80s while fortifying its pastiche with decidedly modern elements.

Today, The Motet release “Draccus,” a hazy, funk-fueled experience. Filled to the brim with lush sonic details and powerful lyricism, “Draccus” juxtaposes grim verses with cathartic, hopeful choruses.



Draccus” embodies what The Motet have concocted with All Day, an album that will retain the infectious grooves and immaculate, layered arrangements that The Motet have become known for. But by recentering the listening experience around the playing and composition, All Day emphasizes the band’s instrumental mastery molded by two decades of shared musical chemistry. As a result, the new LP promises to showcase a world-class band at the peak of their powers while simultaneously adding potent social themes that address modern political strife.

Draccus” kicks off with a growling, deep bass and guitar groove that underlie the dystopian vocoder-synth vocals. The verse then transitions into the song’s cacophonous chorus, which imbues the track with synth and organ chords on top of ascending guitar melodies.

Oscillating between politically-charged verses and optimistic instrumental hooks, “Draccus” speaks to the current social reality while offering a tone of hope and resilience in the face of existential doubt.

“First eat up all the trees, look out I spit fire/The keeper of the keys, flames are getting higher/Draccus does what he wants,” the band sings, a gloomy, poetic message on the state of the world.

But “Draccus” isn’t mere despair. It relates to the socio-political upheaval of the past several years, and uses its arrangements and instrumentation to bring focus to the importance of music and art. For The Motet, society can prosper through community, and music can be that bridging catalyst.

Fans can hear “Draccus” and other All Day cuts on The Motet’s upcoming nationwide tour, kicking off with a two-night New Years run at Crystal Bay Casino in Lake Tahoe and stopping through cities like Salt Lake City, St. Louis, Columbus, and Honolulu. In addition to performing at Tucson’s Gem & Jam Festival, the band will also play a special, hometown doubleheader at Denver’s Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom, to celebrate both the LP release and the iconic venue’s 20th anniversary.

The Motet tour dates
12/30/22 Crystal Bay, NV | Crystal Bay Casino
12/31/22 Crystal Bay, NV | Crystal Bay Casino
1/13/23 Telluride, CO | Sheridan Opera House
1/14/23 Crested Butte, CO | Center for the Arts
1/20/23 Denver, CO | Cervantes
1/21/23 Denver, CO | Cervantes
2/3/23 Tucson, AZ | Gem + Jam
2/17/23 Bend, OR | Volcanic Theatre Pub
2/18/23 Bend, OR | Volcanic Theatre Pub
2/24/23 Bozeman, MT | ELM
2/25/23 Missoula, MT | Top Hat
2/26/23 Whitefish, MT | Great Northern Bar
3/1/23 Victor, ID | Knotty Pine
3/2/23 Boise, ID | Olympic Lounge
3/3/23 Salt Lake City, UT | Commonwealth
3/4/23 Salt Lake City, UT | Commonwealth
3/10/23 Buena Vista, CO | Ivy Ballroom
3/11/23 Buena Vista, CO | Ivy Ballroom
3/15/23 Indianapolis, IN | Vogue
3/16/23 St Louis, MO | Delmar Hall
3/17/23 Columbus, OH | St. Fatty’s Daze @ The Woodlands
3/18/23 Columbus, OH | St. Fatty’s Daze @ The Woodlands
3/19/23 Cleveland, OH | Beachland Ballroom
3/24/23 Honolulu, HI | Blue Note
3/25/23 Honolulu, HI | Blue Note

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World Music Mix

World Music Mix: Ghostwoods(Australia)-Album: My Neon (4000 Records, 2023)

Ghostwoods-My Neon

Ghostwoods(Australia)-Album: My Neon (4000 Records, 2023)

Ghostwoods-Saturnine

Led by musician/composer James Lees, the languorous, atmospheric music of Ghostwoods has been gradually blinking into existence since the lockdown winter of 2020. Isolated and with time to kill at his home in Mt Nebo/Jinibara Country, James turned to composing and tinkering on the piano with the sparse and spooky fragments that would become the first collection of Ghostwoods compositions.

Created at Mount Nebo-based recording studio Wild Mountain Sound, with much-loved Brisbane producer Jamie Trevaskis, the first compositions were released on the Dark Moon EP in late 2021. In 2022, work continued on a full-length album, entitled My Neon, presaged by the singles ‘Terminal Bliss’ (Oct 2022) and ‘Brighter Now’ (Dec 2022).

Like all of the music in this first wave of Ghostwoods compositions, My Neon retains its piano-led provenance, fleshed out by synths, percussion and contributions from key collaborators Mark Angel (electric guitars), Karl O’Shea (bass), Andrew Saragossi (flute/clarinet/sax) and Rohan Seekers (keys/synths).

“The more I work on Ghostwoods music, the more I understand what it is actually about,” says Lees. “Having always been used to working with singer/songwriters, I am very concept-based and the instrumental setting of Ghostwoods subverted and challenged that for me. As we do more recording, and more live shows, the music and the project itself is teaching me what it is about. It’s such a fascinating and satisfying process.”

My Neon was created with much less planning than typically goes into a James Lees project. Particularly in the studio, Lees is usually meticulously prepared when approaching a session but challenged himself to be more free and leaving space to be playful and experiment.

As with many instrumental pieces, the narrative/theme/meaning is left to the listener to manifest. There are shared intrinsic links between the album’s six tracks, some even unwittingly inhabiting similar musical motifs in their early stages. After being carefully shaped and chiseled in the studio, those shared compositional affinities linger in the tracks and connect them as a whole even with each tune having a distinct stylistic identity.

“The title My Neon is actually the words Mt Nebo autocorrected – I sent this to a friend on a text message, and liked the mistake!” muses Lees. “It came to mean how I see the music in my mind as I strongly experience synesthesia with sound and music. It felt like a way to convey the colours of this sometimes rather dark music, and that is reflected in the artwork too which also features my house in Mt Nebo – my little sanctuary away from the world, and where the music is created.”

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World Music Mix

World Music Mix: David Linx, Guillaume de Chassy, Matteo Pastorino-On Shoulders We Stand (Enja/Yellowbird Records 2022)

David Linx, Guillaume de Chassy, Matteo Pastorino

Nouvel album On Shoulders We Stand
Disponible chez Enja/Yellowbird Records

David Linx, Guillaume de Chassy and Matteo Pastorino ont sorti en trio l’album On Shoulders We Stand chez Enja/Yellowbird Records.

Sur cet album, le pianiste Guillaume de Chassy, le chanteur David Linx et le clarinettiste Matteo Pastorino s’inspirent d’oeuvres de Bach, Chopin, Rachmaninov, et Ravel. David Linx leur a écrit des paroles, Guillaume de Chassy s’est occupé des adaptations, pour cette osmose entre jazz et musique classique.

Après Drown Out The Noise, un titre adapté de Sergueï Rachmaninov, David Linx, Guillaume de Chassy et Matteo Pastorino nous offrent Souls Astray, un titre inspiré par la Sonate pour piano D.537 de Schubert.
Souls Astray est une composition de Franz Schubert qui a déclenché tout notre projet d’album. Quand nous avons entendu la transcription de Guillaume de Chassy, nous avons tout de suite senti que les parties instrumentales pourraient devenir un nouveau répertoire pour le chant, autant jazz et classique. Ce projet a été une libération artistique puisqu’il fallait construire depuis un nouvel endroit et les mélodies me dictaient les textes en quelques sorte. Souls Astray est une ode à la compassion et la beauté de la patience en amour et amitié” a expliqué David Linx.

David Linx : site officiel  Facebook  Instagram
Guillaume de Chassy : site officiel  Facebook et Instagram
Matteo Pasterino : site officiel Facebook et Instagram 

 

David Linx au chant, Guillaume de Chassy au piano et Matteo Pastorino aux clarinettes nous offrent l’album On Shoulders We Stand, un disque en trio, inspiré des musiques de Bach, Ravel, Scriabine, Schubert, Chopin, Mompou, Rachmaninov et Chostakovitch.
Les textes sont signés David Linx et les transcriptions assurées par Guillaume de Chassy.”Nous n’inventons rien totalement ; nous nous tenons sur les épaules des grands créateurs qui nous ont précédés ou de ceux que nous côtoyons aujourd’hui : musiciens, peintres, écrivains … ces géants nous soutiennent et nous inspirent chaque jour.”
C’est ainsi que David Linx et Guillaume de Chassy, initiateurs de ce projet, définissent leur démarche commune. Avec On Shoulders We Stand, les trois musiciens se sont lancés un défi de taille, assumant joyeusement une prise de risque devenue rare dans le conformisme ambiant.

David Linx on vocals, Guillaume de Chassy on piano and Matteo Pastorino on clarinets released the album On Shoulders We Stand, a trio album inspired by the music of Bach, Ravel, Scriabin, Schubert, Chopin, Mompou, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich.
The texts are written by David Linx and the transcriptions by Guillaume de Chassy.
“We don’t invent anything totally; we stand on the shoulders of the great creators who have preceded us or those we rub shoulders with today: musicians, painters, writers … these giants support us and inspire us every day.”
This is how David Linx and Guillaume de Chassy, initiators of this project, define their common approach. With On Shoulders We Stand, the three musicians have taken on a major challenge, joyfully assuming a risk-taking that has become rare in the current conformism.

World Music Mix

JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2022: Luisvi Jimenez(Spain)-Caminos Cruzados

Luisvi Jimenez-Caminos Cruzados
Luisvi Jiménez – Africa

Luisvi Jiménez composer and guitarist presents his new album titled Caminos Cruzados. The album includes compositions by Luisvi Jiménez, accompanied by Javier Rodriguez on Electric Bass, Adal Fernández on Drums and Percussion, Adrián Royo on Piano and Melodica and Luisvi Jiménez on Guitars.

It is worth noting the collaboration of Jesús Carbonell on the flamenco guitar in the song Caminos Cruzados.

The album has been Recorded, Mixed and Mastered at Pottoko (Beasain) studios. The album cover is the work of cartoonist and illustrator Pedro Espinosa.

An album featuring subtle soundscapes in which Flamenco, Samba, Latin, Swing, Blues touches come together in a wide spectrum of sonorities divided into eight tracks.

Luisvi Jiménez compositor y guitarrista riojano nos presenta su nuevo trabajo discográfico titulado Caminos Cruzados. Son composiciones de Luisvi Jiménez, acompañado de Javier Rodriguez en el Bajo eléctrico, Adal Fernández a la Batería y Percusiones, Adrián Royo al Piano y Melódica y Luisvi Jiménez a las Guitarras. Es de destacar la colaboración de Jesús Carbonell a la guitarra Flamenca en el tema Caminos Cruzados. El disco ha sido Grabado, Mezclado y Masterizado en los estudios Pottoko (Beasain). La portada del disco es obra del dibujante e ilustrador Pedro Espinosa. Un disco que nos ofrece sutiles paletas sonoras en las que confluyen pinceladas Flamencas, Samba, Latin, Swing, Blues, y un largo abanico de campos sonoros repartidos en ocho composiciones.

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JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2022

World Music Mix: Tano Pumará(Argentina)-Album: Incierto(2022)

tano pumara- incierto

Tano Pumará(Argentina)- Incierto

Tano Pumará: Incierto

The project to record the album arose during the pandemic with the idea of making a synthesis of a musical journey of many years.
The violin is the protagonist because it is the instrument that has accompanied me since I was 5 years old and, almost without intending to, the musical genres that were most present in my life began to appear: jazz, Argentine folk music, tango, Argentine rock. The result is difficult to classify within a musical genre, but these influences can be recognized.
Incierto, the title track, is a Tano Pumara original. The tune embodies Nuevo Tango (New Tango).

Tano Pumará: Violin, production, arrengements, composition.
Matías Martino: piano
Fefe Botti: Up right bass
Mono Valle: Drums

Recorded in “Estudio Bulo” by Nacho de la Riega. December 2021
Covers ilustrations: Teresita Pumará
Covers design: Marcos Novick

website

World Music Mix

World Music Mix: Andrew Dow(USA) – In Motian (ears&eyes Records (2022)

Andrew Dow - In Motian

Andrew Dow is a multidisciplinary artist living in New York City. Bass player, composer, photographer and videographer, Andrew has long been developing his personal sound and vision on the electric bass guitar. Inspired by jazz musicians, classical composers, rock music and songwriters alike, he has been following a singular vision, one that he hopes is felt throughout his first recording as a leader, In Motian

From our very first breath to our last, we’re faced each and every day with navigating an ever changing world. In Motian is an attempt to acknowledge those every day changes; changes that we sometimes accept with grace, and sometimes we meet kicking and screaming. Andrew has composed a beautiful album of personal reflections on time; both lived and lost, personal and collective. A musically poetic weaving of  memories, of hopes and dreams, of our shared human experiences. 
Time is at the heart of the album; time and motion. In Motian is a play on words, giving a nod to the great drummer/composer Paul Motian, whose own sense of time, and artistic vision, has long been an inspiration of mine. However, In Motian is my own story, the story of my life. It’s the people that I’ve met, and the music that I’ve lived, learned and played. Singing classical music through college, my time playing with great songwriters, and later, all of my experience playing jazz and avant-garde music, both around Boston and then in New York City. Simply put, this is the debut presentation of my artistic DNA.

  • Andrew Dow – electric bass guitar, compositions, poetry, spoken word
  • Michaël Attias – alto sax 
  • Matt Hull – trumpet
  • Sumner Thompson – voice
  • Santiago Leibson – piano
  • Max Goldman – drums

ears&eyes Records

World Music Mix

World Music Mix: Sanfeliu(Australia)-Album: To Absent Friends(4000 Records, 2022)

Sanfeliu-To Absent Friends

Sanfeliu(Australia)-Album: To Absent Friends(4000 Records, 2022)

Sanfeliu-Leopardi

Sanfeliu’s sophomore album To Absent Friends is a collection of songs and sound-collages about the people that make us who we are: friendships, relationships based on the free sharing and exchanging of care, nurture, pleasure and knowledge in different times and places.

Like each friend, each song presents different patterns, and a different relationship or exchange model: some friends you see every week, some every summer, some sporadically, some regularly, but they all share a focus on self-reflection, awareness, cooperation, collection creative pursuits, shared passions that bring you together.

Similarly to friendships, these songs show an interest in change, growth, transience, willingness to embrace change and to grow. Some pieces have a clear pop-song structure with verse, bridge and chorus. Others have a ballad structure, and rely on the repetition and contrast between vocal and instrumental parts. Some are entirely built on repetition, whereas others explore development and change, with slowly shifting harmonic sequences.

“In most of the pieces,” says Sanfeliu, “working with very minimal rhythmic and melodic motifs and presenting these across both piano and subtle synth layers helped me integrate the writing into something that allowed for more complex arrangements, whilst feeling still natural, seamless, organic.”

The album’s opening track, ‘To Absent Friends’, is a simple note addressed to all our dear friends: perhaps a letter, or a postcard, a message that travels through space and place between oneself and another, bridging that distance and using it as a strength to build a process of active exchange and communication.

Several of the songs in the album refer to actual people: friends, relatives, writers, philosophers, thinkers and activists that have been influential in Carles’ life.

For example, ‘Leopardi’ is dedicated to the 19th century Romantic poet Giacomo Leopardi, possibly the founding father of emo-core music/poetry, and draws heavily on his own lyrics.

‘El Rey y la Reina de los Desamparados’ is dedicated to Kurt Cobain and its lyrics are an adaptation/mechanical translation of his diaries.

In contrast with Sanfeliu’s debut album (Flores – Colores), To Absent Friends has perhaps a brighter sound, and more uplifting songs with a clear pop structure, whilst continuing their exploration of melodic variety from different musical traditions.

Recorded at Moon Room with Nell Forster and mastered by Marly Lüske at Alchemix Studios, several friends also joined the creative and recording process: Isabel Torres plays flute on 4 songs, Paco Johnson-Cash contributes guitar and lap-steel guitar on 2 songs and Nell Forster herself contributed sound-collaging, drums and percussion.

To Absent Friends tracklist:

1. To Absent Friends [3:22]
2. Leopardi [5:11]
3. Lonely Village [3:57]
4. Bicycles [6:04]
5. Digital [2:30]
6. El Rey y La Reina de Los Descastados [8:11]
7. La Maga Fina [2:47]
8. Grassy Patch [5:40]
9. To Dear Friends [2:55]

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World Music Mix

JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2022: Igor Willcox feat. Daniel Santiago, Erik Escobar(Brazil) – Message From Another Dimension (Single)

Igor Willcox feat. Daniel Santiago, Erik Escobar - Message From Another Dimension (Single)

Igor Willcox feat. Daniel Santiago, Erik Escobar(Brazil) – Message From Another Dimension (Single)
Composer/Drums/Synth Bass/Keys: Igor Willcox
Daniel Santiago-guitar
Erik Escobar-rhodes
Label: Room 73 Records
Igor Willcox’s latest composition, a beautiful, lush jazz-rock song with a new age edge, written in the trio format.


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JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2022

World Music Mix: (sic)Trio(Argentina) – Album: Jerga(2022)

(sic)Trio - Jerga

(sic)Trio(Argentina) – Noosa
Composer: Adolfo Trepiana
Album: Jerga( ears&eyes Records, 2022)

‘Noosa’ (4:59): The final track starts with a piano intro and samples. It draws inspiration from a psychedelic experience that turned out not the way it was expected. This also happened traveling far from home days before the pandemic outbreak. This unfortunate event put a stop on that journey.

Charles Gorczynski (bandoneonist, saxist, composer and of Colorlist, Redwood Tango) says this and sums it up best: “(sic)Trio is a contemporary jazz group that integrates widespread elements from Argentine tango and Scandinavian instrumental music. Their sound is free-flowing and impressionistic, focused on exploring melodies inside of carefully crafted rhythmic environments. Tango influence is clear with both the sound of the bandoneon and the melodic focus, but tango lives in the lifeblood of the music instead of taking precedence. Instead the direction is akin to other genre-bending trio jazz projects like The Bad Plus, Dawn of Midi, Little North, Tord Gustavsen, or Girls In Airports.”

‘Jerga’ is (sic)Trio’s debut album. Just as their name suggests, there is no mistake in this trio. ‘Jerga’ comes to us as a special slang at the middle of many possible crossroads. A contemporary manifest that breaks physical barriers and unifies new expressions with a new code.
Adolfo Trepiana (bandoneon) and Noel Morroni (piano) met at the beginning of their musical careers as a part of the boiling scene of the New Tango in Buenos Aires, and have come together again, more than a decade later to record their own original music. Each established in their own composer’s path, they have joined tango expression with jazz, rock, and avant-garde with the help of the third musician in this band: drummer Nacho Coppolecchia.
Listening to this music we think of shadows that stalk us, shadows that return to us a melancholic hip hop filled with lots of air and waves of rhythm. This music lets us dive deep into the depths of watery and atemporal surfaces. We sink in the shiny eye of a Río de la Plata ‘maelström’. Inside we see a whirlpool of free reeds saying farewell to the buttons of the glowing bandoneon. The piano attacks every corner of the music staff finally flying free hand in hand with the intuitive drum-kit maneuvers.

It’s interesting to recall that many of these compositions were written aboard different cruise ships while working in the house band, battling the rigor of the seas and spanning great distances across the world.
Like Ulysses in his ever-returning odyssey, we feel suspended in air and water. We are halfway between coming back home or staying offshore. We don’t know what’s next. We are held expectant almost on trial about what is going to happen with (sic)Trio. What new metric modulation or timbre will this trio use? Maybe the track ‘Noosa’ does this best. This track makes reference to the Australian region by the sea. A beautiful journey that can go wrong and even strange. We can remember the unheimlich sense of being in a place that Freud explains in his essays. But this time, instead of a suit and tie Freud, we have an ‘arrabal’ version of him with a Nik Bärtsch shirt.
These musical waters that come vice-versa from Europe to Argentina embrace in unity. They unite in a faraway, distant, and dark echo although we can’t figure it out. There is a pure black scenario that resists the flashing lights. In it, we can find a time of presence, dialogue, and debate. This acoustic nucleus is the x in (sic)Trio’s map. A present time with a musical stereo. Past and its tradition on one side, futuristic hype (alas! the pandemic) on the other.
‘Jerga’ stands as a self-spiraled record that calls to us even when it’s talking to itself. It’s difficult to resist this fatal attraction, hard not to throw oneself in the water and risk it all. The music feels like a deus ex machina that propels us into a harmonic and melodic triangle constructed by these three Argentinians.
We can welcome this, or we can say goodbye to what we see: a purified original nostalgia.

Personnel:

Adolfo Trepiana – Bandoneon
Noel Morroni – Piano
Ignacio Coppolecchia – Drums

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