Argentum

Many books and articles have been written about the tortuous relationship between Buenos Aires and its rural hinterland. US-based but Buenos-Aires born, the veteran pianist and composer Carlos Franzetti is among those best placed to explore the relationship between tango – a city genre – and folk forms such as zamba and chacarera. When Franzetti and his trio (plus guests) cover a chacarera by Eduardo Lagos, ‘La Oncena’, they tap all the song's latent angst, with David Finck's bass sounding forlornly stranded on the pampas plains. On Franzetti's own ‘Argentum’, a driving rhythm and Hohner melodica – a surprisingly effective stand in for the bandoneón (squeezebox) – recall Astor Piazzolla's iconic ‘Libertango’, but soprano sax and walking bass line somehow internationalise the sound.

It sounds a bit ‘hotel lobby’ at times, but there's quality and feeling beneath the slick surfaces. Franzetti has played with Rubén Blades and Ray Baretto and brings a Statesider's energy and eclecticism to his playing and arranging. Argentinian music has an oft-ignored common African past; Franzetti, in the shadow of Piazzolla, has uprooted himself to America to explore one of its possible futures.