Richard Galliano is undoubtedly the most famous living accordionist, a star not only of the jazz, but also of the classical and world-music scene. He is one of the few whom we invited to the Bratislava Jazz Days Slovenská sporiteľňa for the third time - the last time he played here in 2010 with his legendary project The Tangaria Quartet. This year's Jazz Days will feature Richard Galliano with his current New York Tango Trio, with whom he plays pieces from the repertoire of his friend Astor Piazzola, supplemented by his own compositions.
"The jazz approach to New Tango, like New Musette, has always been a given for me. Jazz, Musette, and Tango all feed on the same ingredients of strong melodies, dance, and precise and refined harmonies. We play each of these concerts with complete freedom, sometimes not exactly from the score, but never from the soul of the composer." Galliano said in reference to the production of his current trio.
Richard Galliano was born in 1950 in Cannes. Thanks to his pervasive talent and the help of his musician father, he was able to establish his instrument in musical contexts that had previously ignored the accordion - jazz festivals and classical concert halls. Early in his career, he worked with Parisian stars such as Charles Aznavour, Juliette Greco, and Georges Moustaki.
In 1983, Astor Piazzolla personally engaged him to be the bandoneon soloist at the Comédie Française for the Piazzolla production of William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". It was the beginning of a long friendship that lasted until Astor Piazzolla's death.
During his career, Richard Galliano also collaborated with other immortal musicians such as Gilberto Gil, Chet Baker, Ron Carter, Wynton Marsalys, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Charlie Haden, Mino Cinelu, Biréli Lagrène, Biréli Lagrène, George Mraz, Al Foster, Ron Carter, Charlie Carter, Charlie Haden,Michel Legrand, Toots Thielemans, Kurt Elling, Claude Nougaro, and Serge Gainsbourg.
Astor Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in 1921 and spent the first half of his life in New York. It was there that he discovered the tango. At the age of ten, his father gave him a bandoneon, and he studied harmony with Terigo Tucci. Later he met the Hungarian pianist Béla Vilde, a pupil of Rachmaninov, who taught him not to regard music as a simple exercise but to approach it with passion. He dreamed of becoming a classical pianist or a jazz saxophonist, but listening to Elvin Vardar's sextet, that is, listening to a different way of playing the tango, determined his trajectory. This second encounter was decisive, you already know the rest...