Abrazo

Warm, tango-inspired runnings from the Paris-based duo of accordionist Vincent Peirani and soprano saxophonist Emile Parisien, whose palpable rapport has seen them perform more than 1,000 concerts together in the past decade, over 600 of which have been as a duo. And while their leanings have tended to the jazzier end of the spectrum – they met in 2012 as part of respected jazz drummer Daniel Humair’s quartet – this new embrace of tango has all the expertise and invention one might expect. Opening, cleverly, with an adaptation of Jelly Roll Morton’s ‘The Crave’ – one of Morton’s so-called ‘Spanish tinge’ pieces, which he recorded for solo piano – the duo offer slow-burn loveliness that seems to nod to the genre’s roots in the port-side African neighbourhoods of Argentina and Uruguay, their just-so phrasing mapping out the deft footwork of the partner dance expressed in the milongas of Buenos Aires.

Tango is usually played on solo guitar, or by an orquesta típica ensemble of violins, flute, piano and two or more bandoneónes; Peirani and Parisien’s sax-andaccordion combo gives clean new life to Astor Piazzolla’s sometimes overwrought ‘Fuga y Mysterio’. Peirani proves himself a tango composer of merit with three self-penned tracks, though it’s Parisien’s own, delicate ‘Memento’ that lingers. The closer, a tangoed take on Kate Bush’s glorious ‘Army of Dreamers’, ties everything up in a bow.