Biography
A native of Buenos Aires now based in New York City, bassist Pablo Aslan has focused since the 1990s on an acoustic fusion of tango and post-bop jazz. Though deeply shaped by bandoneon pioneer Astor Piazzolla—the figure whose innovations transformed tango as decisively as alto saxophonist Charlie Parker altered jazz—Aslan draws equal inspiration from a wide span of jazz forebears that includes Oliver Nelson, Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Gato Barbieri, and Charlie Haden. He avoids the loose, improvisation-centered “blowing dates” common in jazz circles; instead, he works primarily as a bandleader, composer, and arranger in the mold of Nelson, Ellington, and Mingus, with Mingus’s penchant for abstraction clearly audible in his own tango-inflected output.
After relocating to New York, Aslan formed several tango-oriented ensembles alongside bandoneonist Raul Jaurena, among them the New York Tango Trio and the New York/Buenos Aires Connection. He has also performed with pianist Pablo Ziegler’s Quintet for New Tango, a group named in tribute to Astor Piazzolla’s New Tango Quintet, of which Ziegler was a member for more than a decade. In addition, Aslan directs the sextet Avantango, whose personnel have included trumpeter Diego Urcola, tenor saxophonist and flutist Oscar Feldman, pianists Dario Eskenazi or Gustavo Casenave, bandoneonist Hector del Curto, and violinist Leonardo Suarez Paz; while most of the group’s recordings are instrumental, vocalist Roxana Fontan appears on selected tracks.
Aslan’s career has brought collaborations with jazz figures such as saxophonist Joe Lovano and vibraphonist Gary Burton, as well as Latin artists ranging from Julio Iglesias to Shakira; he contributed to both the English- and Spanish-language versions of Shakira’s 2001 hit single “Objection (Tango).” He has further explored Jewish klezmer traditions, recording with clarinetist David Krakauer and violinist Alicia Svigals. In 2003 Aslan and Avantango cut the album Avantango for the independent label ZOHO Music; issued in February 2004, the recording features several compositions by Piazzolla.
After relocating to New York, Aslan formed several tango-oriented ensembles alongside bandoneonist Raul Jaurena, among them the New York Tango Trio and the New York/Buenos Aires Connection. He has also performed with pianist Pablo Ziegler’s Quintet for New Tango, a group named in tribute to Astor Piazzolla’s New Tango Quintet, of which Ziegler was a member for more than a decade. In addition, Aslan directs the sextet Avantango, whose personnel have included trumpeter Diego Urcola, tenor saxophonist and flutist Oscar Feldman, pianists Dario Eskenazi or Gustavo Casenave, bandoneonist Hector del Curto, and violinist Leonardo Suarez Paz; while most of the group’s recordings are instrumental, vocalist Roxana Fontan appears on selected tracks.
Aslan’s career has brought collaborations with jazz figures such as saxophonist Joe Lovano and vibraphonist Gary Burton, as well as Latin artists ranging from Julio Iglesias to Shakira; he contributed to both the English- and Spanish-language versions of Shakira’s 2001 hit single “Objection (Tango).” He has further explored Jewish klezmer traditions, recording with clarinetist David Krakauer and violinist Alicia Svigals. In 2003 Aslan and Avantango cut the album Avantango for the independent label ZOHO Music; issued in February 2004, the recording features several compositions by Piazzolla.
Albums
Divina
2023
Xmas Tango Project
2021
Avantango: Live 1996 (Remixed and Remastered)
2018
Contrabajo, Works for Bass and String Quartet
2018
Tributango
2016
Tango Grill
2010
Buenos Aires Tango Standards
2007
Live
