Living in the United States since 1980, Argentine-born bassist and composer Pablo Aslan is recognized internationally as one of the leading figures in traditional and contemporary tango. His extensive discography includes Piazzolla in Brooklyn, a jazz-tango tribute to Astor Piazzolla, and Tango Grill. The latter earned him nominations for a Latin Grammy Award (“Best Tango Album”) and a Grammy Award (“Best Latin Jazz Album”).

• “Piazzolla in Brooklyn easily lives up to the composer’s early imagining of jazz tango.” **** DOWNBEAT
• “You may read about merging jazz with tango, or jazzing up tango, but the real goal here is to push tango to unimagined extremes.” TOM HULL (Village Voice)

His most recent album of works for bass and string quartet, ConTraBajo (Soundbrush Records) presents him as a soloist and covers an eclectic repertoire ranging from Villa-Lobos and Ellington to original flamenco and tango-inspired compositions. With guest artists Paquito D’Rivera and bandoneonist Raul Jaurena.

• “The bassist is a towering figure in the world of modern tango ” RAUL D’GAMA SOUZA, latinjazznet.com

He performs and tours with a variety of ensembles, including his own 50’s tango dance band The Aces of Rhythm, with the Emilio Solla Tango Jazz Orchestra, Meg Okura’s Pan Asian Ensemble, composer Frank London’s ensembles, Brian Marsella’s Gatos do Sul, and with members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in Lalo Schifrin’s “Letters from Argentina”.

As a producer, he has shaped more than a dozen albums, including the 2007 Latin Grammy Winner Te Amo Tango by Uruguayan bandoneonist Raul Jaurena. Most recently, he worked on albums by the Glass House Orchestra, Tributango quartet, and pianists Håkon Skogstad , Brian Marsella, Emilio Solla. In 2016, he founded Avantango Records as a home for his productions, and other tango related projects. www.avantango.com

• “We’re in a golden age of jazz-tango fusion, and bassist Pablo Aslan is one of the main reasons. (…) His pulsing lines are the heartbeat of a new music.” JAZZIZ

Aslan has also performed and recorded with many world-class artists, including Yo-Yo Ma, Shakira, Lalo Schifrin, Denyce Graves, Osvaldo Golijov, Pablo Ziegler, the New World Symphony, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Aslan has also performed with clarinetist David Krakauer’s band Klezmer Madness! in the U.S. and Europe, and collaborated with other leading klezmer musicians such as composer-trumpeter Frank London and violinist Alicia Svigals.

• “Bassist Pablo Aslan has long been in the forefront of forging an alliance between jazz and the tango. His approach has been artful, keeping the body of the tango intact while letting jazz take the music into new pastures.” JERRY D’SOUZA – ALL ABOUT JAZZ

Aslan is an active researcher and educator producing educational programs for Lincoln Center Institute, Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts, and Arts Connection in New York City. As a guest lecturer, he has taught at several universities throughout the United States, including Harvard, Yale, and UCLA. Serving as Artistic Director of the Reed Tango Music Institute for the 2013-14 season, Aslan has also been a Featured Artist at the Indiana University Tangueros Conference.

“The results are beautiful, as the rules imposed on the players make their improvisations more about nuance than blowing.” **** DOWNBEAT
“The late, great Nuevo Tango master Astor Piazzolla sidled up to the jazz aesthetic in his way, and bassist Pablo Aslan continues to carry the jazz-tango torch, as heard on this beautiful new recording.” JOSEF WOODARD – JAZZ TIMES
“The themes are clearly defined, while each improvised adventure comes complete with thrills and beauty. Recommended, Aslan’s Jazz/Tango project works wonders on the soul.” CADENCE

“Pablo will continue to define the tango idiom in his musically inimitable way…Pablo Aslan..The right man….In the right way…At the right time for tango jazz.” EJAZZNEWS

“Aslan creates improvisatory alchemy with artists at home in both genres. Tango as Miles, Coltrane, Evans and Chambers might have conceived it.” GLOBAL RHYTHM

“Bassist Pablo Aslan has pulled it off here on this spirited recording that retains all of the charm and intrigue of Argentina with the collective spontaneity of American freedom.” ALLMUSIC.COM

“From the level of play to the artistic conception, there is nothing “standard” about this work and that is both its strength and beauty.” JAZZTIMES

“Though you might not think of tango as “improvised”, it is very much so on this splendid album and will surely be a delight to those among us who want to hear music that’s created on the fly. It takes real talent and vision to do this, especially with a musical form as recognized as is tango.” DICK METCALF