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Guillermo Klein

The craft of composition has been a part of Guillermo Klein’s life since his childhood in Argentina. Klein’s father presented him with a piano when he turned 11 years old and, inspired by the legendary Argentinean composer Astor Piazzolla, he promptly began his experimentation with writing songs.

Klein left Argentina to attend Berklee College of Music after hearing a moving speech by the former dean Gary Burton about his relationship working with Piazzolla. Klein intended to study classical music on his arrival but found himself among peers that were passionate about jazz.

The music of Wayne Shorter provided the bridge from classical to jazz studies. Being a fan of unique harmonic expression, Klein was easily drawn to the work of this master composer who is deemed to be one of the most intriguing harmonic architects in jazz. Klein was also able to develop a talented network of musical friends, many of which came to Berklee from South America. This group of colleagues provided the framework for what would eventually become Klein’s main musical voice, the Big Van large ensemble that would later become Los Guachos.

After graduating from Berklee, Klein moved to New York City like many of his fellow graduates. He settled into Greenwich Village and quickly became associated with a jazz club called Smalls where he established a weekly engagement with his 17-piece Big Van band that incorporated musicians living in New York as well as commuters from Boston. Smalls was critical in fostering a community of young artists that would ultimately be some of the most influential voices of modern jazz.

Klein later scaled the band down to a more streamlined 11 piece unit that began to be known as Los Guachos (roughly translated, the bastards). The band continued to develop with the help of residences at Smalls and, later, the Jazz Standard. After recording an album that was ultimately shelved, Klein was able to find a home with Sunnyside Records. The label released two CDs by Los Guachos, Los Guachos II (1999) and Los Guachos III (2002).

Even with media attention and devoted fans, Klein found it increasingly difficult to make a living as a working musician in the States. He moved back to Argentina in the early fall of 2000 with his wife. While in Argentina, Klein was able to make another recording alongside local musicians, Una Nave (2005). He stayed in Argentina for two years before moving to Barcelona, Spain.

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Radio & Podcasts

William Parker, Gonçalo Marques & More

Read "William Parker, Gonçalo Marques & More" reviewed by Maurice Hogue


Back in 2017, one of the great quartets was in a celebratory mood over the release of a new recording, so they booked the Shapeshifter Lab in New York for their record release party. Someone had the smarts to record those musical proceedings and the results are a new album by bassist William Parker and In Order to Survive—saxophonist Rob Brown, pianist Cooper-Moore and drummer Hamid Drake. Live/Shapeshifter is definitely one of the best recordings of 2019, and you'll hear ...

Album Review

Guillermo Klein: Swiss Jazz Orchestra & Guillermo Klein

Read "Swiss Jazz Orchestra & Guillermo Klein" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Attiva da 16 anni, la Swiss Jazz Orchestra ha raggiunto un eccellente livello professionale, grazie al lavoro continuativo (suona regolarmente ogni lunedi notte nella sede Bierhübeli di Berna), al valore dei suoi musicisti e al coinvolgimento di prestigiosi ospiti, solisti o arrangiatori stranieri. Tra i collaboratori regolari c'è Guillermo Klein, con cui l'orchestra pubblica ora un ambizioso album in studio, dopo i molti registrati dal vivo. Leader del gruppo Los Guachos, Klein è uno degli orchestratori più ...

2
Album Review

Rebecca Martin, Guillermo Klein: The Upstate Project

Read "The Upstate Project" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Il titolo dell'album prende il nome da quella parte dello stato di New York collocata a nord dell'area metropolitana, anticamente abitata delle nazioni della confederazione irochese. Un'area rurale ricca di boschi, come ricorda la bella copertina, che oggi ospita la cantante e chitarrista Rebecca Martin e il compositore, pianista e orchestratore Guillermo Klein. Quest'ultimo è tornato a vivere negli Stati Uniti, abbastanza vicino alla vocalist e la collaborazione s'è sviluppata naturalmente, portando a questo progetto di dodici evenescenti ...

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Year in Review

Il meglio del 2016 secondo Angelo Leonardi

Read "Il meglio del 2016 secondo Angelo Leonardi" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


La discografia jazzistica del 2016 evidenzia l'inarrestabile creatività di veterani come Henry Threadgill o Leo Smith e di giovani protagonisti come JD Allen o Darcy James Argue. Personalmente sono stato colpito dalla prova significativa di un artista ancora in ascesa come Ryan Keberle e da quella maiuscola di un compositore e leader ancora sottovalutato come Guillermo Klein. Dischi JD Allen Americana (Savant Records) Darcy James Argue's Secret Society

Album Review

Guillermo Klein: Los Guachos V

Read "Los Guachos V" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Anche se da anni è votato tra i massimi orchestratori emergenti nel Critics Poll di Down Beat, Guillermo Klein è quasi sconosciuto al pubblico internazionale del jazz. Eppure guida questa piccola orchestra da un ventennio, con strumentisti prestigiosi come Jeff Ballard, Ben Monder, Miguel Zenon, Chris Cheek. Nato nel 1969 a Buenos Aires, compositore fin dall'adolescenza, Klein s'è trasferito a Boston nel 1990 e dopo gli studi alla Berklee ha costituito un ampio organico denominato Big Van ...

7
Album Review

Guillermo Klein: Los Guachos V

Read "Los Guachos V" reviewed by Budd Kopman


If a creator has a vision, being persistent in working to bring it to life is a requirement. This is true in life, for visions big and small, and not just for artists. Pianist, composer and band leader Guillermo Klein most definitely fits that bill. His group, Los Guachos (literally, The Bastards) has been in existence for around twenty years. Beginning in 1990 in Boston at the Berklee College of Music, where he met some of the musicians, ...

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Album Review

Guillermo Klein y Los Guachos: Carrera

Read "Carrera" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose


In his first recording since the magnificent arrangements of music of by Cuchi Leguizamon, Domador de Huellas (Sunnyside 2010), pianist Guillermo Klein has reassembled his main musical vehicle, Los Guachos, for Carrera. Here, Klein once again shows why he is such a master of manipulating the voices of the instruments he uses, bringing out subtle variations in tone and color. Moreover, like his mentor, Gil Evans, he is able to nominate the voices he wishes to use to express his ...

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190

Recording

Aaron Goldberg and Guillermo Klein - Bienestan (2011)

Aaron Goldberg and Guillermo Klein - Bienestan (2011)

Source: Something Else!

When pianist Aaron Goldberg set out to do this record, he wanted to mix things up with the compositions and arrangement, and so he called in Argentinian composer, arranger and fellow pianist Guillermo Klein to take the lead in those departments. Klein, who is fast getting a reputation of being a sort of Gil Evans of Argentina, brings his orchestral sensibilities to Aaron Goldberg and his small combo consisting of Matt Penman (bass) and Eric Harland (drums). Miguel Zenon (alto ...

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Interview

Guillermo Klein and the New Argentine Jazz: Radio Documentary and Interviews

Guillermo Klein and the New Argentine Jazz: Radio Documentary and Interviews

Source: Inverted Garden by Eric Benson

My radio documentary, “Sounds of Upheaval: Guillermo Klein and the new Argentine jazz" debuts tonight on The Checkout. Listeners in the New York area can catch it on WBGO 88.3 FM. (Or streaming live everywhere!) The Checkout airs at 6:30 p.m. My segment will likely start around 6:39. (I'll post a link as soon as it's online.) I didn't move to Buenos Aires expecting to find jazz. I'd grown up in New York, the jazz capital of the world, and ...

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Performance / Tour

Guillermo Klein's 2008 Cuchi Concert (Live!)

Guillermo Klein's 2008 Cuchi Concert (Live!)

Source: Inverted Garden by Eric Benson

Before Guillermo Klein's Domador de Huellas: Music of Cuchi Leguizamón was a studio album (out today!), it was a commission for the Buenos Aires International Jazz Festival in October 2008. That year was the first for pianist Adrian Iaies as the festival's artistic director, and he immediately proved his worth by asking Guillermo to tackle the legacy of el Cuchi. Guillermo didn't so much recreate el Cuchi's music as inhabit it, tossing aside doting reverence for what the old master ...

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Video / DVD

Weekly Latin Jazz Video Fix: Guillermo Klein

Weekly Latin Jazz Video Fix: Guillermo Klein

Source: The Latin Jazz Corner by Chip Boaz

A musician that strives to constantly explore new avenues of expression and challenge his listeners faces an unpredictable path. In some cases, the general public has immediately gravitated towards the passion and intensity displayed by these musicians, supporting their work in droves. The further that these artists travel outside the mainstream though, they open themselves to the possibility of alienating their public on a greater level. Critics may celebrate their work on a grand scale and an inner circle of ...

163

Recording

Guillermo Klein's New Album (Plus an Exclusive Clip!)

Guillermo Klein's New Album (Plus an Exclusive Clip!)

Source: Inverted Garden by Eric Benson

Tomorrow, Sunnyside will release Guillermo Klein's latest album, Domador de Huellas, an inventive and powerful take on the music of the Argentine folklore legend Cuchi Leguizamón. The early reviews are stellar. The Times' Ben Ratliff lauds the way Klein transforms Cuchi's music while retaining its essence. NPR's Patrick Jarenwattananon analyzes Klein's entrancing introduction to “Coplas del Regreso" and admits that, like me, he's been listening to the album on repeat for the last week.

For the next day, you can ...

185

Interview

Jazz Pianist Guillermo Klein Tackles Iconoclast 'Cuchi' Leguizamón

Jazz Pianist Guillermo Klein Tackles Iconoclast 'Cuchi' Leguizamón

Source: All About Jazz @ Spinner

There is a select list of musicians in jazz who are far from being a household name, but they have the respect if not outright adoration of their peers. Argentine composer/arranger/pianist Guillermo Klein is such an artist. He's released a handful of CDs under his own name since attending Boston's Berkelee College of Music from 1990 through 1992. His canvas has always been bigger bands, and he has undeniable knack for matching beautiful melodies to brilliant but unconventional arrangements. At ...

150

Performance / Tour

Guillermo Klein is Accessible at Newport

Guillermo Klein is Accessible at Newport

Source: All About Jazz

A purveyor of complex music rendered immediately accessible, composer and bandleader Guillermo Klein makes his debut at Newport

With his long-running large ensemble Los Guachos, Klein's intuitive, unforced hybrid of big band jazz, Argentinean folk rhythms and the modern classical idiom have won him devotion from many of today's hottest jazz musicians. As crowds trickled into Newport on Sunday morning, Los Guachos led off the final day of festivities with bright, colorful music. Klein drew from throughout his catalog, from ...

110

Radio

Village Vanguard to Launch Live Webcast

Village Vanguard to Launch Live Webcast

Source: All About Jazz


134

Interview

Pianist/Los Gauchos Leader Guillermo Klein Interviewed at AAJ

Pianist/Los Gauchos Leader Guillermo Klein Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz

Argentine pianist, composer, and bandleader Guillermo Klein is a musician for the global age. He grew up in Buenos Aires, studied in Boston, made his name in New York, returned home for two years, and then relocated to Barcelona. His wife is American; his children are Spanish. His most famous band, Los Guachos, has an international cast that has included the likes of Miguel Zenon, Chris Cheek, Bill McHenry, Luciana Souza, and Jeff Ballard, and features an adventurous genre-defying sound. ...

"There are many memorable individual efforts, but the accent is unmistakably on the orchestra as a whole, which fully realizes its role through Klein's ingenious use of music and interpretation to capture one's imagination." - Mark F. Turner, All About Jazz

"Some albums are simply a collection of discrete songs; others are broader works where the whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts. With Una Nave, Argentinean pianist Guillermo Klein has created a boldly sweeping album that transcends its individual components. While these sixteen pieces can be assessed in terms of stylistic roots, specific performances, and compositional élan, these considerations are really secondary to the greater impact they have when experienced as a 66-minute whole." - John Kelman, All About Jazz

"...this is the rare CD where plentiful musical variety only gives an impression of hungry and far-reaching giftedness"not arrogant hubris or lack of focus." - Paul Olson, All About Jazz

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Suspenso

Carimbo Porta-jazz
2022

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Swiss Jazz Orchestra...

Sunnyside Records
2019

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The Upstate Project

Sunnyside Records
2017

buy

Los Guachos V

Sunnyside Records
2016

buy

Carrera

Sunnyside Records
2012

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Dança Macabra

From: Suspenso
By Guillermo Klein

Va Roman

From: Filtros
By Guillermo Klein

Videos

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