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Jazz In Buenos Aires: Fresh Breezes From The South
Longtime regular customers trickle in with picnic baskets and grocery bags full of homemade pasta dishes, freshly baked bread and sweets. Bottles of Malbec begin to circulate and the party spills out into the arcade’s common area.
A tradition that says a great deal about the resilient character of the jazz culture in Buenos Aires unfolds at Minton's around noon on the last Friday of every month. Longtime regular customers trickle in with picnic baskets and grocery bags full of homemade pasta dishes, freshly baked bread and sweets. Bottles of Malbec begin to circulate. The party spills out into the arcade's common area. The revelers are virtually all middle-aged men—among them journalists, psychiatrists, sociologists, authors and other members of the city's well-cultivated intelligentsia. Usually one of Argentina's many noted jazz musicians drops by at exactly the right time to be warmly received and have an opportunity to tout their new release or upcoming performance.
Guillermo Hernández is Minton's owner. The shop bulges with new inventory, much of it CD reissues imported from Europe. He smiles as he hauls out a bottle of Minton's own line of red wine emblazoned with a hip, '60s-style label. Then, he beckons visitors to inspect his latest acquisition; a custom-made LP cleaner. It is a locally made masterpiece of exacting mechanical perfection.
The story of Hernández's early upbringing, how he started this enterprise 23 years ago, and how it has become a veritable altar of jazz culture in Buenos Aires, was celebrated in the 2012 documentary Minton's—20 A?os by director Jorge Fondebrinder. Loyal patrons, like many of those who show up for the monthly get-together, are featured relating personal accounts of their history with Hernández and patronage of Minton's.
One local jazz luminary featured in the documentary is
Adrian Iaies
pianob.1960
Today, Iaies is a busy guy, putting finishing touches on this year's talent line-up. At the moment, headliners include guitarist Peter Bernstein and his quartet, Brazilian bassist Siz?o Machado and his trio, French pianist Manuel Rocheman and his trio, and Spanish pianist Albert Sanz. Trumpeter
Jim Rotondi
trumpet1962 - 2024
Jazz has been prospering in Argentina since the pre-World War I days. North American and European ragtime bands began performing in Buenos Aires as early as 1910. Given the preponderance of well-trained local musicians, it was natural that these artists would hear, appreciate, and emulate the new sounds coming from abroad. In 1927, the appearance in Buenos Aires by U.S. pianist and arranger Sam Wooding and his band, The Chocolate Kiddies, further strengthened a passion for jazz. Since the 1950s, Argentina has been known for its penchant for modernist styles. Pianist Boris "Lalo" Schifrin was "discovered" by trumpeter
Dizzy Gillespie
trumpet1917 - 1993
The festival is a living reminder of the influence that jazz has exerted here for a century. One of an impressive list of initiatives of the municipal government's cultural affairs office, the annual festival has become an important part of the city's contribution to the arts. Last year's event featured guitarist
Pat Martino
guitar1944 - 2021
Myra Melford
pianob.1957
Ben Goldberg
clarinet
Dena DeRose
piano and vocalsb.1966
Pianist Melford was particularly impressed by the high jazz IQ of the Buenos Aires audiences. She commented to DownBeat Magazine that "It was great to discover a whole new culture and part of the world that, for us, is totally into the music. We found the local musicians to be really inspiring—great players and very open-minded to new ideas." Pat Martino, who was interviewed in depth by a local music journalist before a rapt audience of several hundred, also commented on the sophistication of local audiences.
For his part, artistic director Iaies sees the festival as a meeting place and an invitation to dialogue. "A dialogue," he commented, "between tradition and avant-garde, between the city and the type of music that will be its natural soundtrack for several days." This year, the Buenos Aires Jazz Festival will be presented from November 10 through November 15.
Tags
buenos aires
From Far and Wide
Mark Holston
Argentina
Adrian Iaies
Jim Rotondi
Michele Weir
Dizzy Gillespie
Pat Martino
Myra Melford
Ben Goldberg
Dena DeRose
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