Inverted Garden

Guillermo Klein & Aaron Goldberg's Bienestan

Loyal readers probably don't need to be told again that one of this blog's heroes is the Argentine composer and pianist Guillermo Klein. In early May, Klein arrives back in New York for a week at the Village Vanguard with his 11-piece ensemble, Los Guachos. (They'll be recording a follow-up to 2008's Filtros during that time, as well.) I was planning to hold off on any Argentine jazz blogging until the week before the Vanguard shows, but last week I received word that a new Klein album is set to drop on June 14th.

The record, Bienestan, is a collaboration between Klein and pianist Aaron Goldberg, with crack players Miguel Zenón, Chris Cheek, Matt Penman, and Eric Harland filling out the band. Klein composed and/or arranged all the songs on Bienestan and Goldberg takes on the role of featured soloist. "We were conceiving of it almost in a Gil Evans-Miles kind of way," Goldberg writes in the press release announcing the album.

Needless to say, I'm hugely excited. Klein's contrapuntal duet with keyboardist Esteban Sehinkman—which introduced "Coplas de Regreso" on Klein's last album, Domador de Huellas—executed mind-bending rhythms with maximum tension and propulsive force. Goldberg filled in ably for Sehinkman when Klein came to the Vanguard last year. Those brief moments of piano-Fender Rhodes conversation are enough promise for me. But you might need more. Sunnyside has pre-released two tracks from Bienestan. Here they are:

Burrito:
 

Anita:

The Argentine Invasion, Pt. 2: Richard Nant

When Guillermo Klein plays the Village Vanguard next month, his old friend and collaborator Richard Nant will be coming along. The trumpeter/percussionist Nant has been a fixture in Klein's flagship group, Los Guachos, for as long as its been in existence; and he's also a crucial contributor to Base de Nave, the band the Vanguard will host this time around.

In Buenos Aires, Nant leads his own ensemble, Argentos—a vigorous unit that deploys its horns in an intricate, constantly shifting attack that's grounded by Pipi Piazzolla and Matías Méndez's crushing rhythmic thump. Here, all-world saxophonist Miguel Zenón (who will appear with Base de Nave) guest solos with the band as they play "Carnavaleando," a Cuchi Leguizamón number that will not appear on Domador de Huellas but may very well get some play at the Vanguard: