The tightrope of playing music that touches both the tradition of one’s country and modern jazz is a tricky one, as such an album can turn into either a typical jazz release with just some exotic instruments, or something you might hear on the National Geographic channel.
But Argentine guitarist and composer Dario Acosta Teich walks the high wire well, enmeshing both sounds from his own country with modern post bop ideas. He brings together Hernan Jacinto/p, Fernanco Huergo/b, Yulia Musayelyan/fl, Pipi Piazzolla/dr (grandson of Nuevo Tango master Astor) and guests Marta Gomez-Eleanor Dubinsky-Timna Comedi and Franco Luciani/harm.
The vocal harmonies add a rich breeze to the upbeat pieces such as “Milonga Hermetic” and “Kachariy”, with the latter including some traditional pan pipes as a rich supplement to Musayelyan’s modern woodwind. Gomez’s ethereal voice is longing and sensuous around Teich’s nylon strings during “Zamba Para La Noche” with “Petalo Del Sur” has palpable vocals longing and looking good dressed in nylon strings around flute and bass.
There’s a dash of Astor Piazzolla’s sophisticated pulses on the funky, angular and dark “Danza De La Terra” with bass and guitar doing some tricky work, while traditional folk claps lead off to a gentle village folk feel on “Low Tide” and “Chacarera Infinita” includes Teich with his most tender pickings before the band comes in with some intricate team work.
If these guys come around, count me in to see them perform. They sound both new and traditional in one fell swoop.