Astor Piazzolla & New Tango Quintet - Tango: Zero Hour

Astor Piazzolla lived and died as tango's bad boy, having almost single handedly invented the music's vanguard, the form known as tango nuevo. It took Piazzolla decades to reach his unequivocal apex, which is captured flawlessly on Tango Zero Hour. When this recording was cut in 1986, some of the compositions Piazzolla and his quintet cued up were standards for the band. Whether it was an epiphanic period or not, the recording captures an ensemble alchemically transforming seriously complex works into goose-bump-inducing electricity. Pianist Pablo Ziegler brings his jazz background into the mix with jarring urgency, just as violinist Fernando Suárez Paz makes quavering classical inflections sing amid Piazzolla's here tender and there blistering bandoneon. For a peak experience in music that challenges the ear to dance and the body to fully listen, look no further than this recording. --Andrew Bartlett Amazon.com essential recording

 Not Impress
I made a mistake of buying this CD without listening to it first.It has also five music in a CD.I Love to listen to Tango Especially La Cumparsita , La Paloma, A Media Luz,and love to dance Tango...Very Sorry that "Tango: Zero Hour" is not my type of music and did'nt impress me.
April 25, 2008

 Impressive!
Piazzolla has to be one of my favorites out there! This album is full of intrigue and it certainly pulls your feelings from one extreme to the other... Full of passion, of sadness, of anger... Although you won't find his finest pieces like "Adios Nonino" or "Libertango", this album is excellent from beginning to end. Let the "sentimiento gaucho" take over you! March 24, 2008

 from a lay person
I bought this CD for two reasons: I like tango and the reviews made it sound like it was the second coming of Gardel. The CD is amazing. I love it.

It is instrumental which is not something I was expecting. I am no connoisseur but it's a great piece to listen to when you need background music that is far more provocative and interesting than you'd expect. March 6, 2008

 Why yes, it is amazing.
35 five star ratings so far, and no rating with a lower grade.

And it deserves every one of them. July 1, 2007

 New Tango
Tango: Zero Hour was the very first tango recording/CD I had ever heard. A friend of mine loaned it to me, not ever telling me exactly what Tango was- all I knew to think of was the dancers with the roses between their teeth, where the dancing was more dramatic than the music... So, my first mistake: having never heard tango. My second? Listening to it late at night in the dark. Music had never rocked my world quite like this... It was the most intense experience I had ever had with music. I was shocked. Wide-eyed. Taken aback. The version I had in my hands was the original with the liner notes, not the new shiny one that I now own (and that you can now buy), and the prose written on the card inside was enough to rip me in half without having ever heard the music. Tango: Zero Hour is not for the faint at heart. It is not for the light enthusiast. As the liner notes so eloquently said: "And suffer, Motherf*****. This is the Tango." August 20, 2006

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