The new programme from the Orchestre National de Jazz (ONJ) is inspired by the immense composer and bandoneón-player Astor Piazzolla.

As an artist of confluence, Piazzolla symbolizes many values dear to the artistic approach undertaken by Daniel Yvinec with his ONJ since 2009; and a personal exploration of the Argentinean's work constitutes an ideal playground for an orchestra accustomed to the in-depth examination of sound, timbre and playing both collective and individual, while defending a vision of open jazz far from all parochial or stylistic preoccupations.

In conceiving this repertoire, Daniel Yvinec chose to work closely with the brilliant American musician-arranger Gil Goldstein – a partner of Miles Davis, Gil Evans, Pat Metheny, Paul Simon or Michael Brecker, amongst others. Their work on the arrangements focussed as much on the melodies and rhythms developed throughout the compositions of the Argentinean maestro as on his own bandoneon playing – all of them essential components which provide the latter's music such special savour.
To paint this subjective portrait – a shimmering, breathing, free portrait – a genuine collaboration was necessary: Daniel Yvinec and Gil Goldstein worked together in New York, elaborating on different scenarios for each of the titles chosen. They imagined, for example, different encounters taking place between these compositions inside a single room, meetings in a dizzying game of mirrors; and they also evoked the presence of other artists who influenced him… Hence the ghosts of Carlos Gardel, Alberto Ginastera, Roberto Di Filippo or Gil Evans mingling with Piazzolla's own universe.
There remained to find a way, without recourse to the actual instrument, of personifying the bandoneon of Piazzolla in order to make his sensual, tumultuous phrasing be heard… And you can bet that the omnipresent "virtual" bandoneon here, divided between the various members of the orchestra, won't easily escape the listener's ear. You can even "see" the ONJ transform itself into a meta-bandoneon in this re-reading, as if they were a chamber ensemble, of Mi Refugio, a piece originally written to be performed by a soloist.
There are other tasty things to be heard in the course of this new programme, including some of the composer's more emblematic pieces such as Libertango, Oblivion, Vuelvo al Sur, Tres Minutos con la Realidad..., all of them familiar landmarks authorizing further exploration, but in different lands.

With Piazzolla!, the ONJ celebrates the music of the Argentinean maestro in all its diversity, delivering an extraordinary new reading which surprises us by its audacity, in the image of an orchestra which has never wavered in its desire to give the public the opportunity to undertake new journeys.