"A poet has said that tango is danced with the soul. For that reason, I try to achieve – with my group – that state of soul in the dancer, preparing his soul for the melody".
Osvaldo Fresedo (1897-1984) was the tango bandleader who, giving prominence to the melody, brought romance to the dance floor. Always inventive, playful and modern, he eventually rejected the conventions of the orquesta típica, incorporating vibraphone, harp and guitar into his line-up to forge a dreamy, romantic style that remains much loved.
Tango Masters: Osvaldo Fresedo takes the reader on a journey through a recording career spanning more than sixty years – the longest and the most varied of any tango musician.
Michael Lavocah is the author of Tango Stories: Musical Secrets, the guide to tango dance music. This is the sixth volume of the series Tango Masters, which explores the music of the great orchestras of tango’s Golden Age in depth.
The publication of this book was supported by the Argentine Tango Society.
ISBN: 978-1-9997551-6-4
256pp
Launching: 11th March 2024
Buy now
The book costs £16 + postage.
Payment options are:
- Bank transfer – contact us for our account details.
- Debit/credit card via PayPal – you can pay from your credit/debit card by PayPal. We charge a little more because of PayPal’s fees.
- Debit card via Sumup – contact us, and we’ll send you a secure payment link to enter your card details.
Customers in the UK
Buy the book directly from the publisher for £18.69 post-paid.
Customers in Europe outside the EU
You can send me €26.39 / £21.99 by bank transfer or pay £22.99 by PayPal (see below).
Customers in the EU
I’m not currently able to post a book to the EU (one of the great Brexit dividends). Please buy from tangodanza magazine.
The book is also available as a print-on-demand book on amazon.com, amazon.ca, amazon.co.jp, amazon.com.au, amazon.de, amazon.nl and amazon.se. Be aware that the physical quality is not as good as the books I print myself.
Buy now using PayPal: UK & Europe
PLEASE CHOOSE YOUR SHIPPING DESTINATION CAREFULLY from the drop-down menu! Remember: YOU DON’T HAVE TO HAVE A PAYPAL ACCOUNT TO PAY WITH PAYPAL. You can just use it as a credit card processor.
Playlists
Go to the Fresedo playlists.
Recommended digital albums
For the sextet
Just starting out? This compilation is my suggestion for a single album. Includes the astonishing De puro guapo (not Laurenz’s seminal 1935 tango, but a different one). It’s available on Spotify.
Want an album that also exists as CD (if you can get one)? Try this album from RGS’s Tango Collection (RGS-1643). It’s available on Spotify
For more (much more!) of the recordings from 1926-1931, check out the youtube channel of Project Fresedo
The orchestra (1933-1948)
This album from Euro Records (EU-17034) is available, with a different cover, on Spotify.
This album from Euro Records (EU-17013) is available, again with a different cover, on Spotify
From Tango Time Travel comes this splendid re-issue of Fresedo’s complete 1930s recordings on Victor (TTT4). The team at TTT4 have not filtered off all the noise, in order to preserve the high-frequency information, so be prepared to sometimes use your tone controls.
This album from the French label ‘Le chant du monde’ (LCDM 2742309) covers the years 1939 – 1957, focussing on the 1950s (from track 8 onwards). It’s on Spotify.
Whilst we’re here: the best ever Buscándote, released in December 2021. Note that this album is most definitely not “Fresedo en Estéreo”, a 12 track album released initially as an LP in 1963.