In the last 10 or so years, something transformative has happened in the Buenos Aires jazz scene. At least that's what Eric Benson sees: in 2008, he lived in Argentina's capital city, where he discovered a thriving if small jazz scene. There were players who had gone through serious jazz training, often in U.S. conservatory settings, then discovered inspiration in Argentina's folk and pop musics — ABS fave Guillermo Klein among them. The players who stuck out the financial crisis which ravaged the country in the early 2000s found themselves organically merging styles, then refining their experiments over the course of following years.
On WBGO's The Checkout this week, Benson reports on this phenomenon, in light of Klein's fantastic new album Domador de Huellas. (Ahem.) Online at Benson's blog Inverted Garden, he's also posted a treasure trove of bonus material: Full transcribed interviews with plenty of standout Buenos Aires jazz musicians, producers and club owners, along with clips of their music. It's a great story, and better music. [The Checkout: Sounds of Upheaval: Guillermo Klein and the New Argentine Jazz; Inverted Garden: Guillermo Klein and the New Argentine Jazz: Radio Documentary and Interviews]
Related At NPR Music: More thoughts about Guillermo Klein.
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