José Maria Lucchesi

23/07/2015 by Richard Stoll

As a DJ, I occasionally look for rarely played orchestras, and in this search I had the opportunity to discover the orchestra of [name of orchestra], which certainly does not belong to the mainstream. Ifand Maria Lucchesi to stumble upon, which, however, seems to be gaining more and more attention among tango DJs. Lucchesi was born on March 29, 1897, in Sorocaba (Brazil) [1,2], received a solid musical education and primarily played accordion, but also piano, harmonica and guitar [3]. However, he recorded his tangos primarily in Europe, mostly in Germany, France, and Spain, sometimes under the pseudonym Leal Pescador (“The Loyal Angler,” because fishing was apparently one of his favorite pastimes) or as Jose Maria de Lucchesi. In 1942, he became a French citizen. The name of his orchestra was “José M. Lucchesi South American Orchestra“. With this orchestra, he primarily played tangos, waltzes, and paso dobles across a very wide range. Interestingly, he had his musicians (as well as Canaro’s orchestra) perform in gaucho clothing (see picture).

Lucchesi came to Paris in the 1920s during the Tango Mania, like so many other South American musicians, and began his career as an orchestra leader. In Paris, he also met Gardel and one of his tangos, “Gaby Morlay,” a French actress who apparently had a romantic affair with Gardel. Later, he also composed the film score for one of her films (“Acusée” by Maurice Torneur, 1930).

His early tangos from the 1920s and 30s, which are very much in the Argentine style, are suitable for milongas. Later he developed a style more geared towards European tastes..

Jose Maria Lucchesi died in Paris on February 10, 1989.

Here are some of his most beautiful tangos as well as a tanda by Lucchesi: