[Tango-L] North American live tango bands for dancing

[Michael Knowles]

We in North America will just have to accept that there will not be a 
Golden Age style band based here. It's far too expensive to keep that 
many musicians together and it's unlikely that there will be enough 
money collected at the door to pay for them. We must settle for smaller 
ensembles which means we will not get to dance to the overwhelmingly 
rhythmic WHUMP... WHUMP... WHUMP of four bandoneons playing together.

I like going to live tango dances because I like the surprises and 
variations they bring to the music. I don't like every song or every 
band but when I go I make an extra effort to work with what the band is 
offering. Yes, some songs just don't have what it takes to be enjoyable 
for dancing but then I feel that way about a number of vintage tango 
recrodings played at milongas. There's always a tanda or two that I sit 
out while waiting for something more to my taste; why should a live band 
be any different?

One thing that many (all?) of the North American tango bands can improve 
on is their ability to sustain two things throughout the song: strong 
rhythm underneath and a strong melody or countermelody line that sings 
to the dancers and carries them along through whole phrases. The danger 
of having a small ensemble is when the various players trade lines and 
the rhythm part gets lost in the shuffle. It's fine for listening but 
not for dancing.

Here's a short list of USA-based tango ensembles. If you have 
information about other groups, please post:

Tosca
http://toscastrings.com/
Lovely music. Dancing? Not really.

Extasis
http://www.tangosprings.com/Extasis.html
http://www.tango.org/extasis.html
Some good dancing numbers but much of it in the style I call 
'interpretive'... not enough rhythm carrying through.

Tango No.9 (currently recording their third CD)
http://www.tangonumber9.com/downloads/index.html
I like to dance to many of their songs and I like to listen to their 
Piazzolla pieces. They play new tangos as well as classic pieces.

Conjunto Berretin
http://www.tangoberretin.com/band/music.html
Mostly good dancing music with some flights of fancy that are better for 
listening. Led by tango dance instructor/DJ/Tango Lister Alex Krebs.

Hombres de Tango aka Notable Tango (Seth Asarnow + others)
http://www.notabletango.com/
http://www.notabletango.com/samples.htm
Typically a guitar/bandoneon duo. Hard to keep both rhythm and melody 
going when it's just two guys... but their focus is on making their 
songs as danceable as possible given the limitation.

Parlor Tango
Unpredictable collaboration of various Berkeley musicians working with 
Odile Lavault on accordian and/or bandoneon. Odile also leads Baguette 
Quartet.

Quartet San Francisco
http://www.quartetsanfrancisco.com/qsfo_news.html
http://cdbaby.com/cd/quartetsf
Not a tango band per se but their latest album includes many tango 
tunes, a few of which can be danced to. Mostly for listening.

Tango Lorca
http://www.tangolorca.com/listentango.html
I haven't danced to them.

Glovertango
http://www.glovertango.com/music.html
I haven't danced to them.

New York Tango Trio
http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1081932/a/Cabarute.htm
Many good dancing selections.

Los Chantas
http://www.loschantas.com/chantas/sounds.htm
I haven't danced to them.

Please share your experiences and add more USA-based live tango bands.

Michael 'Bink' Knowles
binkster at binkster.net
www.binkster.net