Color Tango - Con Estilo Para Bailar Vol 1 & 2

While all the previous reviews state the faithfulness of Color Tango to the style of Orquesta Tipica Osvaldo Pugliese as the major attractive feature of Color Tango, I would consider it to be a disadvantage.
Of course the sound quality of 1960s recordings of Osvaldo Pugliese is not perfect, but it is still far superior to the poor condition of a lot of tango recordings and is quite acceptable. Hence, when I am buying the CDs of Pugliese's "graduates" I am expecting them to take his style further. Indeed, Juan Jose Mosalini, Rodolfo Mederos, Julian Plaza with his Sexteto Tango (which also included ex-Pugliese Emilio Balcarce, Osvaldo Ruggero, Oscar Herrero, Victor Lavallen and Alcides Rossi) and Daniel Binelli (to name a few) after leaving Pugliese's orchestra developed into very recognizable musical personalities without loosing don Osvaldo's influence. Some (like Plaza and Mosalini) continued playing danceable music while some (like Mederos or the same Mosalini, but with his trio, not as an orchestra leader) explored realms of improvisational "nuevo tango". It is interesting to notice that Binelli after leaving Pugliese have joined the last sextet of Astor Piazzolla.

Unlike the abovementioned musicians, Roberto Alvarez and Amilcar Tolosa with their Color Tango decided to remain closer to the texture of Pugliese, and in my opinion sometimes too close. If you have Pugliese's recordings of Mario Demarco's "Pata Ancha" or Rovira's "A Evaristo Carriego" I do not think you would like to add absolutely identical recording to your collection, no matter how well it is done. Yes, I do understand the enjoyment of live performance, when you can close your eyes and imagine don Osvaldo at the piano and another don Osvaldo (Ruggiero) with the bandoneon, but when it comes to recording, I personally do not think that "copy exactly" works.

To be fair, I have to say that the music is very well done, but the best tracks on these CDs are those where the orchestra members are deviating from the Pugliese texture the most. And there are some. Among the most beautiful recollections of this recording are Analia Goldberg's piano in "Milonga de mis amores" (I have heard that she has a group of her own, and I wish I could find a CD; I think that this young pianist is a true discovery on these CDs), violines of Pablo Agri (son of Piazzolla's magical violin, Antonio Agri) and Fernando Rodriguez. Generally it is a perfectly executed project, I simply wish I were not able to confuse them with Pugliese at the blindfold test.