Salvador Grecco

Real name: Grecco, Salvador Alberto
Nicknames: Quique Grecco
Bandoneonist, composer and leader
(13 May 1945 - 11 May 2008)
Place of birth:
Buenos Aires Argentina
By
Juan Manuel Peña

e started his music studies at the Conservatorio Municipal de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Later he studied bandoneon playing with Abelardo Alfonsín and harmony and counterpoint with Ernesto Rossi (aka Tití) and Pedro Aguilar. He also studied piano playing.

In 1970 he joined the Francisco Rotundo orchestra. In 1971 he was member of the trio led by Tití Rossi, which backed up the singers Alberto Morán, Néstor Real and Alfredo Del Río. In 1976 he traveled to Brazil where, in several cities of that country, he accompanied the vocalist Juan Carlos Cobos. He led his own octet with which he recorded several pieces.

For many years he was member of the Tango Trío which he joined to substitute for the excellent bandoneonist Julio Esbrez. This trio was led by the bass player Humberto Pinheiro and also included the guitarist Rubén Castro. They appeared in 1977 at the El Viejo Almacén and in Caño 14, accompanying the singer Francisco Llanos. Between 1978 and 1984, with the Tango Trío, he went on a tour of Mexico, where they stayed for six years appearing, continuously, at several venues, conventions and on the Mexican television.

He came back to Buenos Aires in 1984, and made his debut at the La Ventana Concert, accompanying the singer Alberto del Solar. In 1986 he made a tour of Ecuador where he appeared in Guayaquil, on television, hotels, Casa de la Cultura, Teatro Sucre, and also he cut several recordings.

In 1987 he went to Santiago de Chile and there he made a large number of appearances and was musical director, on television shows and wrote arrangements for recordings.

He appeared at the Festival de Tango of Valparaíso and at shows for the Chilean TV, accompanying the singer Rubén Juárez. By 1991 we found him in Lima (Peru), appearing at the Hotel César’s Miraflores. He returned to Chile in 1992 and 1993 to play at the Biblioteca Nacional (National Library) (within the Grupo de Cámara del Tango)(Tango Chamber Group), at the Hotel Crown Plaza, Feria del Libro of Santiago and other places. In 1994 he came back to Buenos Aires and again made a tour of Brazil.

He was a brilliant accompanist for several singers: with Rubén Juárez at the Café Homero in the neighborhood of Palermo Viejo, and with Héctor De Rosas, also with the temperamental female singer Alba Solís, Ángel Díaz aka El Paya, Guillermo Fernández, Silvia Gaudín and others.

In 1999 he came back to the Tango Trío with Humberto Pinheiro (double bass) and Rubén Castro (guitar). They went to Peru on tour. He made another more important tour with the Cuarteto Grand Tango, which included Oscar D’Elía (piano), Domingo Diani (double bass), Rafael Gíntoli (violin) and Grecco (bandoneon), plus Hugo Marcel on vocals. They also went to Central America and appeared in Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador.

He made other tours: of Italy, Japan and Colombia (Medellín), the latter with the singer Néstor Fabián in 2005.

He appeared at a large number of night venues in Buenos Aires: Café Homero, Museo Piazzolla. He was bandoneon player of the staff of the Casa de Aníbal Troilo. With the Tango Trío: Exhibition about Tango at the Palais de Glace, Caño 14, El Viejo Almacén, Michelángelo, La Ventana Concert, TV Channel 7, Cabaret Besitos and several others.

He is composer of the pieces: “Sanata para pianos”, “Sanata para cuerdas”, “Ciudad de espectral arquitectura”; the tangos: “Anochecer porteño”, “Alucinante”, “Tanguería”, “Buenos Aires oculto”, “No vendrás”, “Al amigo Salvador Grecco”, “Obsesión [d]”, “Volviendo al ayer”, “Bandoneón milonguero”; milongas: “Sanateando”, “Yanga”, “La Pochola”, “Arrolladora”.