There is a lovely circularity to Tom Ricci’s latest album, “Happening in Buenos Aires.” an Argentine-born, California-based singer-guitarist, returns to his birthplace with a live set that feels loose, intimate, and emotionally open. Recorded at Borges 1975 in Buenos Aires on June 20, 2023, the album places Ricci with Pablo Sanguinetti on piano, Bruno Migotto on bass, and Oscar Giunta on drums
The session moves across jazz standards, bossa nova, tango, blues, and modern reinterpretation, opening with a classic and assured stretch. “Mood Indigo” sets a hushed conversational tone, while “Night & Day” and “Just Friends” bring the group into lighter swing. Sanguinetti’s piano is central here: elegant without becoming decorative, and never crowding Ricci’s voice.
HearNow link:
Bandcamp: https://tomricci.bandcamp.com/album/happening-in-buenos-aires
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/tomricci
The album becomes more distinctive when Ricci leans into Latin American identity. “Naranjo en Flor,” arranged by Pablo Sanguinetti as a jazz waltz, is one of the
emotional anchors. Built in the style of an Argentine tango, the single is given new immediacy in this live version, helped by Oscar Giunta’s spontaneous drumming.
“What A Wonderful World” is another clear centerpiece. Ricci reinvents the song with the same emotional impact but minus the vocal theatrics of Louis Armstrong. But the boldest choice is “Creep,” which opens as an intimate jazz piece that builds from restraint to an explosive peak.
The album is self-produced by Ricci and his band, and you can sense that in their sound. the sequencing doesn’t feel like a fully unified live arc and the final mix is not as polished as contemporary jazz albums. However, that lack of corporate sheen gives the album its own rustic charm; something that many listeners will enjoy.
Happening in Buenos Aires succeeds because it knows what kind of live album it wants to be. It is a personal and quietly ambitious record. By the closing “There Will Never Be Another You,” the album has become a portrait of an artist comfortable with hybridity: Argentine and Californian, jazz and folk-rock, interpreter and storyteller.