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Artist
Osvaldo Tarantino
12+ albums
tangojazz
about
He was born in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Almagro, on 1969 Loria Street. He was one of the greatest tango pianists notwithstanding epochs or tendencies. Owner of a profound, even sound, his personality was marked by an outstanding capacity for improvisation and good taste, either as a soloist or leading an aggregation. In his style, the magic and the sobriety of a danceable swing are blended with the musical finesse. He was an arranger with exquisite ideas and a composer of beautiful melodies. His father José, also a musician, run a conservatory, was a bandleader and played several instruments. At age eight Osvaldo was already playing piano by ear in his father’s outfit. Besides piano, he learnt to play bandoneon and guitar. Later he continued a formal training: he studied harmony and counterpoint with maestro Bianchi. His idols were two jazz men, Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson, and in tango, Orlando Goñi: «His left hand was a revolution.», some day he said. In the 40s he played with the group Los Pregoneros de América, with Amílcar Neira, Castel and his father-in-law Augusto Vila (aka Tito), the one with the Gómez-Vila duo. Thereafter he played piano in the orchestras led by Pedro Maffia, Edgardo Donato and Argentino Galván. In 1953 he joined Héctor Varela and later he was in the ranks of Juan Canaro in the first Argentine embassy to Japan. He was there nine months. Later, with several of the players of that orchestra, he performed in the United States and subsequently
