History of Tango – Part 11: José Martínez. The great intuitive.

He used to invent the melody of his compositions by improvising during his concerts.

At one point he joined a group with Francisco Canaro, who brought his first work to paper: “Pura uva”:

The problem came when José Martínez decided to form his own orchestra to premiere with it at the cabaret L’Abbaye, at Esmeralda Street. That was a regrettable casualty!

I supplanted him with Luis Riccardi, a pianist with a good technique… and I had to put up with the complaints from Royal’s clientele. They noticed the change and missed the typical Martínez beat. It took me a lot to convince the clientele of the cabaret!”

Gardel would also record his “De vuelta al bulín”, with lyrics by Pascual Contursi.

In 1918, together with Francisco Canaro, Vicente Greco, Rafael Tuegols, Luis Teisseire, and Samuel Castriota, he was part of the group that met in a basement in Florida at 300 to shape an organization that would defend their rights and in 1920 he became part of the first board of directors of the entity that with time would become the current SADAIC.

At the end of 1928, he retired from the musical activity.

He would die at the age of 49, but he left us a series of tangos that enrich the floors of the milongas with their beauty.

Let’s listen to some that are very familiar to us: