Oscar Aleman
Encyclopedia
Oscar Marcelo Alemán was an Argentine
jazz
guitarist
.
He was a singer, dancer, entertainer, and guitarist. Aleman was born in Machagai, Chaco Province
in Northern Argentina
on February 20, 1909.
He was the fourth child of seven born to pianist
Malcela Pereira (a native Argentine of the Toba people), and Jorge Alemán Moreira, who played guitar in a folk quartet, with his own children, Carlos, Jorgelina and Juan.
, a Brazilian ukelele before taking up the guitar.
They travelled to Buenos Aires
and had gigs at the Parque Japonés, Nuevo Theater and at the Luna Park. Later they travelled to Brazil
.
By the age of ten, after his mother had died and father had committed suicide (1919), he found himself an orphan working sporadically as a dancer and musician on the streets of Santos, Brazil. When he saved enough money, he bought a guitar and started to play professionally in party venues, forming the "Los Lobos" duo with his friend, Brazilian guitarist Gastón Bueno Lobo, with whom he would return to Buenos Aires in 1925 to work under contract for the comedian Pablo Palitos.
In Buenos Aires, they formed a trio with violinist Elvino Vardaro. They added tango
to their repertoire, and recorded with Agustín Magaldi
and later played with Carlos Gardel
and Enrique Santos Discépolo
.
, and after the tour, Alemán stayed in Madrid
and later moved to Paris
to play guitar as a soloist.
In the 1930s, having discovered American Jazz via Eddie Lang
and Joe Venuti, Alemán moved to Paris
where he was hired by Josephine Baker
to lead her band, the Baker Boys
at the Cafe de Paris. This provided him an opportunity to play regularly with American Jazz musicians who would come to see Josephine and sit in with her band.
He made the acquaintance of Django Reinhardt
while in Paris, and would sometimes substitute for the notoriously unreliable gypsy, but never recorded with him.
Again as a solo act, he toured Europe, playing with Louis Armstrong
, Duke Ellington
.
Alemán later formed his own nine-piece band, which would play nightly at the Le Chantilly in Paris.
The Nazi invasion of France during World War II
forced him to return to Argentina. He continued playing there with his hit Rosa madreselva, and continued to record and perform with both a swing quintet, as well as with a nine-piece orchestra.
From his relationship with the actress Carmen Vallejo he had a daughter, Selva Alemán.
In 1972 at age 63, Alemán recorded a new album, which helped re-launch his career with the reissue of many of his previous recordings, along with concert dates and television appearances.
He continued to teach and perform in his native country until his death in 1980 at 71 years of age.
In 2002, the Internacional Festival of Jazz Guitar «Oscar Alemán», was created in his honor.
According to Jorge Larsen "Although he kept playing Latin music up to the end, he never jazzed it, but was always very careful to maintain each genre's authenticity."
Critic Leonard Feather
wrote "Alemán has more swing than any other guitarist on the continent", and "His tone, phrasing, swing, and attack are so grand that if anyone ever mentions Django Reinhardt to me again, I shall stare coldly."
Alemán was best known for playing the D-hole Selmer Maccaferri (also played by Django Reinhardt). He also used a National Style 1 tri-cone resonator guitar
., nylon string guitars and archtop guitar
s.
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
.
He was a singer, dancer, entertainer, and guitarist. Aleman was born in Machagai, Chaco Province
Chaco Province
Chaco is an Argentine province located in the north of the country, near the border with Paraguay. Its capital is Resistencia on the Paraná River opposite the city of Corrientes...
in Northern Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
on February 20, 1909.
He was the fourth child of seven born to pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
Malcela Pereira (a native Argentine of the Toba people), and Jorge Alemán Moreira, who played guitar in a folk quartet, with his own children, Carlos, Jorgelina and Juan.
Early years
At the age of six, he joined the family ensemble, by then the Moreira Sextet, and playing the cavaquinhoCavaquinho
The cavaquinho is a small string instrument of the European guitar family with four wire or gut strings. It is also called machimbo, machim, machete , manchete or marchete, braguinha or braguinho, or cavaco.The most common tuning is D-G-B-D ; other tunings include D-A-B-E...
, a Brazilian ukelele before taking up the guitar.
They travelled to Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
and had gigs at the Parque Japonés, Nuevo Theater and at the Luna Park. Later they travelled to Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
.
By the age of ten, after his mother had died and father had committed suicide (1919), he found himself an orphan working sporadically as a dancer and musician on the streets of Santos, Brazil. When he saved enough money, he bought a guitar and started to play professionally in party venues, forming the "Los Lobos" duo with his friend, Brazilian guitarist Gastón Bueno Lobo, with whom he would return to Buenos Aires in 1925 to work under contract for the comedian Pablo Palitos.
In Buenos Aires, they formed a trio with violinist Elvino Vardaro. They added tango
Tango music
Tango is a style of ballroom dance music in 2/4 or 4/4 time that originated among European immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay . It is traditionally played by a sextet, known as the orquesta típica, which includes two violins, piano, double bass, and two bandoneons...
to their repertoire, and recorded with Agustín Magaldi
Agustín Magaldi
Agustín Magaldi was a tango and milonga singer. His nickname was The sentimental voice of Buenos Aires.Magaldi took part in the opening broadcasts of Argentina's LOY Radio Nacional in July 1924....
and later played with Carlos Gardel
Carlos Gardel
Carlos Gardel was a singer, songwriter and actor, and is perhaps the most prominent figure in the history of tango. He was born in Toulouse, France, although he never acknowledged his birthplace publicly, and there are still claims of his birth in Uruguay. He lived in Argentina from the age of two...
and Enrique Santos Discépolo
Enrique Santos Discépolo
Enrique Santos Discépolo was an Argentine tango and milonga musician and composer, author of famous tangos such as Cambalache and many others performed by several of the most important singers of his time, amongst them notably Carlos Gardel.Discépolo was born in Buenos Aires...
.
In Europe
In 1929 Los Lobos and dancer Harry Fleming travelled to EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and after the tour, Alemán stayed in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
and later moved to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to play guitar as a soloist.
In the 1930s, having discovered American Jazz via Eddie Lang
Eddie Lang
Eddie Lang was an American jazz guitarist, regarded as the Father of Jazz Guitar. He played a Gibson L-4 and L-5 guitar, providing great influence for many guitarists, including Django Reinhardt.-Biography:...
and Joe Venuti, Alemán moved to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
where he was hired by Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker was an American dancer, singer, and actress who found fame in her adopted homeland of France. She was given such nicknames as the "Bronze Venus", the "Black Pearl", and the "Créole Goddess"....
to lead her band, the Baker Boys
Baker boys
Baker boys could refer to:* Baker Boys: Inside the Surge, 2010 Documentary series* Baker Boys , BBC TV Series* The Fabulous Baker Boys, 1989 film* The Fabulous Baker Boys...
at the Cafe de Paris. This provided him an opportunity to play regularly with American Jazz musicians who would come to see Josephine and sit in with her band.
He made the acquaintance of Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt was a pioneering virtuoso jazz guitarist and composer who invented an entirely new style of jazz guitar technique that has since become a living musical tradition within French gypsy culture...
while in Paris, and would sometimes substitute for the notoriously unreliable gypsy, but never recorded with him.
Again as a solo act, he toured Europe, playing with Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
.
Alemán later formed his own nine-piece band, which would play nightly at the Le Chantilly in Paris.
Return to Argentina
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
forced him to return to Argentina. He continued playing there with his hit Rosa madreselva, and continued to record and perform with both a swing quintet, as well as with a nine-piece orchestra.
From his relationship with the actress Carmen Vallejo he had a daughter, Selva Alemán.
In 1972 at age 63, Alemán recorded a new album, which helped re-launch his career with the reissue of many of his previous recordings, along with concert dates and television appearances.
He continued to teach and perform in his native country until his death in 1980 at 71 years of age.
In 2002, the Internacional Festival of Jazz Guitar «Oscar Alemán», was created in his honor.
Style, technique and equipment
Alemán generally played with thumb pick and fingers. He compares his style and technique to Django Reinhardt's:
"I knew Django Reinhardt well. He used to say jazz was gipsyGypsy jazzGypsy jazz is an idiom often said to have been started by guitarist Jean "Django" Reinhardt in the 1930s. Because its origins are largely in France it is often called by the French name, "Jazz manouche," or alternatively, "manouche jazz," even in English language sources...
- we often argued over that. I agree with many Americans I met in France who said he played very well but with too many gipsy tricks. He had very good technique for both hands, or rather one hand and a pick, because he always played with a pick. Not me, I play with my fingers. There are things you can't do with a pick - you can't strike the treble with two fingers and play something else on the bass string. - But I admired him and he was my friend. He was my greatest friend in France. We played together many times, just for ourselves. I used to go to his wagon, where he lived. I've slept and eaten there - and also played! He had three or four guitars. Django never asked anyone to go to his wagon, but he made an exception with me. I appreciated him, and I believe the feeling was mutual".
According to Jorge Larsen "Although he kept playing Latin music up to the end, he never jazzed it, but was always very careful to maintain each genre's authenticity."
Critic Leonard Feather
Leonard Feather
Leonard Geoffrey Feather was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer who was best known for his music journalism and other writing.-Biography:...
wrote "Alemán has more swing than any other guitarist on the continent", and "His tone, phrasing, swing, and attack are so grand that if anyone ever mentions Django Reinhardt to me again, I shall stare coldly."
Alemán was best known for playing the D-hole Selmer Maccaferri (also played by Django Reinhardt). He also used a National Style 1 tri-cone resonator guitar
Resonator guitar
A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar is an acoustic guitar whose sound is produced by one or more spun metal cones instead of the wooden sound board . Resonator guitars were originally designed to be louder than conventional acoustic guitars which were overwhelmed by horns and percussion...
., nylon string guitars and archtop guitar
Archtop guitar
An archtop guitar is a steel-stringed acoustic or semi-acoustic guitar with a full body and a distinctive arched top, whose sound is particularly popular with blues and jazz players.Typically, an archtop guitar has:* 6 strings...
s.
Discography
- Hawaianita (1927–1929), Buenos Aires
- Ya lo sé (1930–1933), Madrid-París
- Fox-musette n.º 301 (1933–1935), París
- St. Louis Stomp (1936–1938), París
- Doing the gorgonzola (1939–1940), París
- Susurrando (1941–1942), Buenos Aires
- Negra de cabello duro (1943–1944), Buenos Aires
- Haciendo una nueva picardía (1945–1949), Buenos Aires
- Swanee River (1951), Buenos Aires
- Scartunas (1952), Buenos Aires
- Minuet (1953), Buenos Aires
- Ardiente sol (1954), Buenos Aires
- Estambul (1955), Buenos Aires
- Juca (1956–1957), Buenos Aires
- Guitarra de amor (1965), Buenos Aires
- Sueño de víbora (1966–1969), Buenos Aires
- Moritat (1970–1972), Buenos Aires
- Tengo ritmo (1973–1978), Buenos Aires
- Vestido de bolero (1979–1980), Buenos Aires
- Hombre mío (1960–1980), Buenos Aires
- Sí... otra vez! (1979), Buenos Aires
- Swing Guitar Masterpieces 1938-1957 (2 CD Collection) DAWG Productions/Acoustic DiscAcoustic DiscAcoustic Disc is the name of the record label founded by mandolinist David Grisman, in 1990. This independent record label's focus is acoustic music from all genres of music....
, 1997
External references
- Classic Jazz Guitar
- The Rediscovery of Oscar Aleman (Blog)
- Dawgnet Chaco.gov.ar Oscar-Aleman.com.ar "Oscar Alemán, retazos de una leyenda", in Sudestada magazine