CD ECM Records Dino Saluzzi: Responsorium

2003

Dino Saluzzi - bandoneon
Palle Danielsson - contrabas
José María Saluzzi - chitara acustica

“Responsorium” begins where the critically praised “Cité de la Musique” left off, but with the great Argentinian bandoneonist Dino Saluzzi and his guitar playing son José now joined by one of the seminal figures of European modern jazz, Swedish bassist Palle Danielsson. The harmony is wider with Danielsson on board, and all three players seem to have more room to move inside the structures of Dino’s compositions, embellishing the atmospheres of his songs, so full of yearning and sadness and hope.

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Songlines, Top of the world
Jazzman, Choc du mois
Le Monde de la Musique, Choc du mois
Audio, Jazz CD des Monats

Like his Cité de la Musique (1995), Responsorium finds Saluzzi in an intimate trio with the mellow guitar of his son, José, and the expert pulsating bass of jazzer Palle Danielsson. Thoughtful and exploratory, the nine tracks recall both the audacious “tango nuevo” of minimalist Eduardo Rovira and the sadder side of “criollo” roots music. Though often regarded as abstract and cerebral, Saluzzi is led by feeling. … Saluzzi’s tangos are sequences of perfect fragments held together by a bandoneon closer to the church organ than the barrel organs of proto-tango. For some he is the officiating high priest of new tango, but while arguably the best act around, this still sounds more like a gorgeous preamble than the final word.
Chris Moss, Songlines

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Saluzzi’s latest album, Responsorium, in which he forms a trio with Palle Danielsson on double bass and his son José Saluzzi on guitar, is an absolute triumph. The leader’s subtle improvisations on nine of his own compositions are partnered by sensitive, impeccably modest contributions from bass and guitar, with the whole project following a marvellously airy, dancing aesthetic that is best exemplified by the daringly fleet-footed ensemble sections.
Phil Johnson, The Independent

The similarities between jazz, blues and the tangos of Argentina have often been noted. … Saluzzi -like Piazzolla – plays the soulful-sounding, accordion-like bandoneon in a fashion that brings rich, often dissonant qualities, to traditional tango. Although he has performed with Al Di Meola, it is in this album that his own jazz connectiveness comes into full flower. In considerable measure this rich sense of moving rhythms and brisk, jazz-based accents traces to the presence of Swedish bassist Palle Danielsson and the growing jazz skills of guitarist José M. Saluzzi, Dino’s son. The engaging qualities of the music they produce as an ensemble – all of it written by Saluzzi – are irresistible, a compelling example of a sexy, loving relationship between two musical genres.
Don Heckman, Los Angeles Times

A disarming, delightful trip into the unconventional, Responsorium is an example of a truly animated series of pieces that, once again, find the bandoneon iconoclast reinventing his axe. Saluzzi’s arrangements reflect a musical mind that thinks in terms of eddies, starts and stops, interludes and full-out breaks. There is not a song where the music doesn’t sing with a surprising and delicate intensity.
John Ephland, Down Beat