Every time I go to CES, I seek out the M•A Recordings booth, where Todd Garfinkle is silently but actively grooving with his Stax headphones and a new recording. Every M•A release is interesting and beautifully recorded, but once in a while there's a real winner. The eponymous Sera Una Noche is one. Its 13 tracks encompass a wide range of tango, some derived from classic pieces, some original, but all in free-spirited modern arrangements influenced by flamenco, fado, and world music from Africa and Asia. I don't understand the words on the vocal pieces, but the pulse of melody and rhythm is infectious throughout. Recorded fairly close-up in an old church with modestly reverberant acoustics (not the room on the CD cover), the acoustic instruments are clearly and richly present in perhaps the best two-channel sound I've heard. Pedro Aznar's vocals are warm and intimate, and Gabriel Rivano's bandoneon has an appropriately sweet-and-sour voice. Listen, too, to how the low (bass?) clarinet on "Soledad" and "Nublado" (one of my demo cuts) shivers, full of resonance and tinged with buzzy transients, providing a ground for the percussion and guitar intricacies. Bass drum is tight and powerful but subtly played, and the cymbals and bells provide an acid test for high-end detail and clarity. If this had been an LP, I'd have already worn it out.

- Kalman Rubinson
"Records To Die For"
Stereophile Magazine 2002

Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]