2. About “Piano Tango”

The accidental album

“Piano Tango” is a project that came to life without a plan. Three weeks ago, I was on holiday in Madrid when I got a call: there was an opening slot for a solo pianist at the Petrojazz Festival in Saint Petersburg.

I was already planning to visit Saint Petersburg for the birthday of my good friend Ilya (the man who booked most ‘Violentour’ concerts in Russia last year). Since I was grateful for all his hard work booking Tangel Trio in the past, I casually offered to play ‘a piece or two’ for his event.

Ilya corrected me immediately: the offer was for a 30-minute show, complete with backup dancers to make it visually striking. He needed recordings, and he needed them ASAP.

The problem? I didn’t know what to play, I had no recordings, and I wasn’t even home.

I rushed back to Barcelona and started arranging 30 minutes of tango music, spanning from traditional classics to Astor Piazzolla. “Piano Tango” was recorded in a single afternoon, mixed the next day, and burned onto 50 discs the day after that. The result feels as fresh as its conception.

I owe a huge thank you to Flavia for her invaluable help; she had the brilliant idea to use hand stamps for the CD art and helped me assemble all of them in one day.

Below, you can listen to my arrangement of Adiós Nonino, track 8. The cover art features the actual music score my father brought home for me to study when I was just 12 years old.