Pablo Ziegler is an Argentine

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 composer based in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

 and New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. He is currently the leading exponent of nuevo tango

Nuevo tango

Tango Nuevo - either a form of music in which new elements are incorporated into traditional Argentine tango, or an evolution of tango dance that began to develop in the 1980s...

, thanks to the skills and reputation he gathered while working extensively as Ástor Piazzolla

Ástor Piazzolla

Ástor Pantaleón Piazzolla was an Argentine tango composer and bandoneón player. His oeuvre revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music...

's regular pianist from 1978 until the maestro's retirement for health reasons in 1989. In 1985 Ziegler composed the music for the film Adios Roberto, and in 1990, he established the New Tango Quartet.

His playing style, both sharply percussive and metallically lyrical, is instantly recognizable and bears some similarities to that of Vladimir Horowitz

Vladimir Horowitz

Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz    was a Russian-American classical virtuoso pianist and minor composer. His technique and use of tone color and the excitement of his playing were legendary. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.-Life and early...

 as well as some of the wistfulness of Bill Evans

Bill Evans

William John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...

. As a composer he has taken Piazzolla's contrapuntal approach to tango music and added more jazz influence, notably with the regular use of a drumkit, lighter harmonies similar to those used in Bossa Nova

Bossa Nova

Bossa Nova may refer to:*Bossa nova, a style of music*Bossa Nova , a dance form associated with the music*Bossa Nova , a 2000 film*Bossa Nova - album by John Pizzarelli...

, and extended passages of improvisation

Improvisation

Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...

. Having created a bridge between Jazz and improvisation and the New Tango personified by Piazzolla, he has been more successful with his album Bajo Cero.

Ziegler's 2005 album, Bajo Cero, earned a Latin Grammy award. On March 21, 2009 he played in Herbst Theatre

Herbst Theatre

The Herbst Theatre is an auditorium in the War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in Civic Center in San Francisco, United States. The 928-seat hall hosts programs as diverse as City Arts & Lectures, SF Jazz, and San Francisco Performances....

 in San Francisco for the "Tango Meets Jazz" concert, with Nestor Torres

Nestor Torres

Nestor Torres is a jazz flautist who was born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico in 1957. He took flute lessons at age 12 and began formal studies at the Escuela Libre de Música, eventually attending Puerto Rico’s Inter-American University. At 18, he moved to New York with his family...

.

His recordings with Piazzolla include most notably:

• The Central Park Concert
• Tango: Zero Hour
  Tango: Zero Hour
  Tango: Zero Hour is an album by Ástor Piazzolla. It was released in September 1986 on American Clavé, and re-released on Pangaea Records in 1988.Piazzolla considered this his greatest album...
  
  
• La Camorra
  La Camorra
  La Camorra is the name of a three-movement suite for tango ensemble composed by Ástor Piazzolla. It was inspired by the Neapolitan criminal organization Camorra and represents Piazzolla's most ambitious compositional statement in length and large-scale musical form, though not in harmony or timbre...
  
  

His recordings as bandleader:

• 1999 Quintet for New Tango
• Asfalto: Street Tango
• 2003 Bajo Cero
• Tango and all that Jazz
• Buenos Aires Report

External links