Dino Saluzzi
"Responsorium"
(ECM)
Because Dino Saluzzi plays bandoneon and hails from Argentina, it would be easy to assume the music on his most recent recording, "Responsorium," is the latest nuevo tango. However, the rich atmospherics and exquisite meanderings of his new trio move beyond the earthy dance base of tango, or its electric updating, into a broader conception and intensity of musical ideas and feelings. Certainly the recording is tango-based, but the jazz accents of Swedish bassist Palle Danielsson and the impassioned flamencolike chording of Saluzzi's son on guitar are just as noteworthy.
Hints of fleet-footed rhythms swirl inside the songs, but never rush away without mulling over the beauty of the sonic space. This in-the-moment awareness makes for a lush, breathy intimacy. ECM Records captures the trio's tonal brilliance and careful interaction perfectly, giving clarity and definition to their unhurried, sensitive approach. Saluzzi's compositions curve and pause and change directions like intense memories coming back in streams of gorgeous fragments. The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said, "In music, the passions enjoy themselves," and inside Saluzzi's "Responsorium," they do just that. (Michael Pronko)