Two guitars gently envelop the evocative bandoneon of Dino Saluzzi on El Viejo Caminante (The Old Wanderer), a recording that brings together generations and traditions. Here, the Argentinean father-and-son team of Dino and José María Saluzzi are joined by Norwegian guitarist Jacob Young, creating an album of musical depth and lyrical charm.
“It fills me with joy,” says Dino Saluzzi, who turned 90 in May, celebrating the sonic blend of José on classical guitar and Jacob alternating between Telecaster and acoustic steel-string. “Jacob and José are very good together. They have different sounds, different visions, but when it comes to the artistic output there is something beautiful happening.” Dino, whose artistry has always transcended borders, continues to seek new ideas and collaborations: “I always strive to make contact with new ideas outside my normal element, searching for potential for both musical and human growth.”
The association flowered after Jacob Young and José Saluzzi performed duo concerts in Argentina in 2022. Dino, present in the Buenos Aires audience, proposed a trio recording the following year. Honored to collaborate with the master bandoneonist, Young also contributed original compositions, including “Dino Is Here,” a tribute that bends toward tango’s elastic rhythms and chamber-like atmospheres.
Dino revisits his own legacy with new interpretations of earlier works, including “Tiempos de ausencias” from his 1986 collaboration Volver with Enrico Rava, and “Y amo a su hermano,” once performed with Charlie Mariano and Wolfgang Dauner. The title track, “El Viejo Caminante,” though evocative of Dino himself, is in fact a vintage piece—one of his vivid musical portraits performed here as a solo meditation.
The repertoire reaches beyond tango and Argentinean folk traditions into jazz standards such as “Someday My Prince Will Come” and “My One and Only Love,” alongside “Northern Sun,” a composition by Karin Krog. José Saluzzi adds “La Ciudad de los Aires Buenos,” which functions like an overture, drawing listeners into the album’s sound-world, while Dino’s “Buenos Aires 1950” conjures youthful memories of playing in the Orquesta de Radio El Mundo.
For Dino, the bandoneon remains an endless companion: “This instrument has been with me for years. Sometimes it makes me cry, sometimes it speaks to me, but it never finishes telling me everything.” In this recording, the voices of two guitars intertwine with the bandoneon, embellishing fragments of memory while opening new spaces for exploration.
Recorded at Saluzzi Music Studio in Buenos Aires in April 2023, El Viejo Caminante stands as both a reflection on a long and storied life in music and a forward-looking collaboration, uniting tradition and innovation with warmth, intimacy, and humanity.
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