Osvaldo Fresedo · Tango By Year

1926

ChapterVictor Built Its Own Orchestra So It Could Never Lose a Star Again
When Fresedo defected to a rival label, Victor didn't find a replacement. It built one that could never leave.

1927

Lorenzo
An Agustín Bardi composition, played for its playful pizzicato violin; Lavocah notes D'Arienzo's later recording (from the late 1930s) is the most famous version today.
Tinto y Verde
Another playful, pizzicato-heavy Fresedo number, picked to show violinist Adolfo Muzzi's three-finger pizzicato technique.
Only in the episode
Carta Blanca
A darker-coloured Fresedo track, shown as a contrast to the playful ones played just before it.
La Cachila
A late, sweet and tender entry to the same Max Glucksmann 'best version' competition; Lavocah calls Fresedo his clear favourite orchestra of the year on the strength of this run.
Frases de amor
A sweet, stripped-back six-piece Fresedo piece, chosen to open his segment as Lavocah's favourite orchestra of the year.
Agua mansa
A delicate, intimate instrumental, the only recording of this Juan Carlos Giro composition.
Un sueño
A solo bandoneón piece played by Fresedo himself, offered as a special treat for 'bandoneon addicts.'
Only in the episode
Frases de Amor
Picked as Lavocah's favourite orchestra and favourite Fresedo period (1926-28): sparse, playful, still showing off Fresedo's own bandoneón.

1928

ChapterWhy Di Sarli started in 1928
Fresedo's departure gave Di Sarli his break.
Tarasca solo
Antonio Buglione
A tango with a lesser-known singer, perhaps named after a racehorse or football player; Lavocah notes there is a whole genre of football tango.
Piedad
Ernesto Famá
One of the Gran Concurso tangos of Max Glücksmann's competition, a medium hit; Stenvoll prefers the Fresedo version. The orchestra stops and Famá sings with guitar.
De puro guapo
Ernesto Famá
Not the Pedro Laurenz tango of the same name; Stenvoll's note says 'six-star masterpiece'. A heavy lyric looking back to knife fights.
Quema esas cartas
After-party: a sad Fresedo, one of his intense 1928 recordings.
Che papusa, oí
After-party: a popular tango by Gerardo Matos Rodríguez, here a slightly unexpected version.
Only in the episode

1931

ChapterThe king of sweet goes dark
Fresedo's 1931 sound is nothing like his 1940s sweetness.
La cachila
A masterpiece by Eduardo Arolas with a rare piano solo; played slowly and spaciously, 'a tango for 3am'.
Fresedo 1931 set
Closing section: Lavocah says Fresedo in 1931 is so different from his output in any other year.
Only in the episode
¡Qué sapa, señor!
A Discépolo tango, 'prophet of despair and cynicism'; 'what a sucker'.
Only in the episode
Contá siempre conmigo
Ernesto Famá
A Fresedo Brunswick recording from the height of the Depression, written by Famá himself: a man tells his friend 'you can always count on me'.
Only in the episode

1932

El Espiante
An instrumental built on the melody of Happy Days Are Here Again, from a cinema stage show where Fresedo deliberately played upbeat to signal the Depression was over for him.
Í, í, í
Luis Díaz
A vocal number kept with some of 1931's sad flavour, in contrast to the upbeat El Espiante played just before it.
Only in the episode

1933

Vida mía
Roberto Ray
The first recording of Fresedo's own romantic composition, which ended the previous show, with the instruments he borrowed from American music.
El tarta-mudo
Roberto Ray
A playful lyric full of wordplay on stuttering (such as saying 'jamón' for 'jamás'), impossible to translate.
Only in the episode
No sé llorar
Roberto Ray
First of three Fresedo tangos in a year he was huge, partly because the competition vanished.
Only in the episode
Linda cordobesita
Roberto Ray
A Fresedo tango with Ray, about a little lady from Córdoba.
Only in the episode
A record not yet identified
Third Fresedo tango of the set, whose title Dag translated as 'scram'.
Only in the episode
Contigo quiero ir
Roberto Ray
A foxtrot that sounds more Argentine, showing Fresedo's North American influence.
Only in the episode
Por favor
Charles Wimmer
A less well-known foxtrot with a singer in a more English style and a much slower pace.
Only in the episode

1934

Huellas del dolor
Roberto Ray
An unusually punchy Fresedo lyric for the 1930s, ending with the singer begging sorrow to take him in its arms so he can die.
Only in the episode

1935

No me pregunten por qué
Roberto Rey
Chosen to show Fresedo's romantic style and Roberto Rey's non-porteño, upper-class singing accent.
Retazo
Roberto Diaz
A slow, old-style Fresedo number with unusually spooky harmonies in its B section.

1938

Amor
Roberto Ray
The 'compasita' of the night: a very romantic Fresedo waltz, here with a harp introduction on the new Tango Time Travel compilation.
Ojos muertos
Roberto Rey
One of Fresedo's most intense recordings, fading in with the violins from a distance; biblical lyrics (Judas, Cain).
Only in the episode

1939

Y no pudo ser
Ricardo Ruiz
A new singer with Fresedo; Lavocah links the lyric to Contursi's cycle on a real woman, music by Troilo.
Only in the episode
A record not yet identified
A sweet, playful, slightly odd instrumental showing the piano as decoration, like a harp.
Only in the episode
A record not yet identified
Roberto Ray
Ray's last recording with Fresedo, with a great riff; a track even non-Fresedo fans love.
Only in the episode

1940

Plegaria
Ricardo Ruiz
Played despite Lavocah calling Ruiz's high voice a bad fit for the song's solemn, deathly lyric, to frame the discussion of its dark wartime history.

1941

Vamos corazón
Played to contrast Fresedo's smooth, romantic sound against the high-energy orchestras heard earlier in the evening.
Buscándote
A deeply characteristic Fresedo mood piece, recorded on the last days of the year and, Lavocah notes, probably the last 1941 recording played that night.
ChapterA fox-trot, a candombe, a conga and a tango
Fresedo in 1941 was barely a typical orchestra.
Juancito el vendedor
The Spanish version of the hit foxtrot Johnny Peddler, opening a Fresedo section of different rhythms.
Only in the episode
Negra María
Carlos Roldán
A milonga with an amazing backbeat and candombe feeling, unusual for Fresedo; Roldán was brought in to sing only this song.
Una vez en la vida
Ricardo Ruiz
A waltz, following the Love Special's Amor; Ruiz was Fresedo's only regular vocalist through 1941.
La negra está loca
A conga; Lavocah explains the real conga beat (one two three a-four) and lets listeners judge how well Fresedo conveys it.
Only in the episode
Después del carnaval
Played for what Lavocah calls maybe the best counter-melody in tango; the transfer comes from archive.org because no good one exists.

1942

Gitana rusa
Oscar Serpa
Played from Fresedo's entirely new 1942 lineup, briefly including violinist Elvino Vardaro.

1945

A record not yet identified
Oscar Serpa
One of Fresedo's 1945 sides with Serpa, played to show his romanticism; the sound on all of them is poor. Dag says the song is better known from Di Sarli's 1944 recording.
Only in the episode
Julián
A groovy instrumental that Dag thinks is not typical Fresedo; Lavocah loves its melody until a sudden drum roll.

1948

Ojos muertos
Roberto Ray
Ray returned to sing with Fresedo after his solo years; it is risky to play because of the famous 1947 version with Troilo and Floreal Ruiz.
Only in the episode

1952

Vida mía
Héctor Pacheco
Fresedo's own composition, first recorded in 1933 with Roberto Rey singing; Michael still prefers the original for the spirit of its era.

1956

Capricho de amor
A track with trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, recorded when he visited the Rendezvous club in 1956 (with Vida mía, Adiós muchachos and Preludio no. 3); not a tango for dancing.

Year not known

ChapterDizzy Gillespie at the Rendezvous
A jazz giant recorded four tangos with Fresedo.