It takes three to Changos
By Bob Young
Friday, August 26, 2005

Julio Santillan isn't the first, and he likely won't be the last. Count the guitarist/composer as merely the latest in a long line of promising young musicians who come to Boston from South America and leave for New York, having hatched an original style here.
     Wednesday night the native of Tucuman, Argentina, and his trio of electric bassist Fernando Huergo and drummer Franco Pinna came to the Regattabar with an even sharper, more richly textured sound than before, and showcased guests who helped burnish it all.
     Santillan, who has won a slew of awards in both the jazz and classical fields through the years, concentrates on modernizing the folkloric music of his native land. And what a fertile field of rhythms and melodies he's found.
The trio dug particularly hard into originals from their new CD, ``Nann,'' primarily featuring the syncopated Argentinian chacarera, an infectious African-influenced rhythm that put the spotlight on the leader's own playing.
     Santillan has virtuoso chops, yet showing off isn't his thing. Instead, he let the well-oiled interplay of Los Changos (an Argentinian expression that roughly translates as ``the guys'') create the cushion for his own improvisations.
Building moods on his acoustic guitar that slid from buoyant to brooding, Santillan picked and strummed within the traditional Argentinian styles he updated. All the while he managed to blend seamlessly with Huergo and Pinna.
     His guests added even more spice.
     Accordion player Evan Harlan helped stretch the melody of the tango ``Self Portrait,'' pushing it from yearning to bittersweet and back, and Russian-born flutist Yulia Musayelyan brought the band into airy territory on ``My Little Home,'' a sweet contrast to the propulsive swirl of rhythms of the rest of the set.
     Los Changos also work as rising singing star Marta Gomez's backing band, and her two guest spots showed the potent chemistry between them.
     ``Tristeza,'' carried along by a loping Argentinian zamba rhythm, was as dramatic as it was pretty, while the darker closing chacarera ``El Bailarin de los Montes'' fit Gomez's dusky voice like a silk robe.
     Santillan and company have found a way to weave together startling tapestries of color that splash both surprise and warm feelings everywhere as they move a cultural fusion into the future.