Recorded within eight weeks of Tango Zero Hour, the recording Astor Piazzolla voted, rightly, as his career's best, this Suite for Vibraphone and New Tango Quintet reaches similar heights of perfection. Vibraphonist Gary Burton made high marks early in his career with the superquartet recording Duster (which featured guitar great Larry Coryell and jazz vets Steve Swallow on bass and Roy Haynes on drums) and the jazz expanse of Genuine Tong Funeral. With Piazzolla's last quintet, Burton creates a stirring, metallic counterpoint to the group's sliding melodies and gut-grabbing rushes of tango sensation. This is certainly no lighthearted dance music, much more brainily reaching for compositional greatness while simultaneously staying physical. All the cylinders were firing during this live Montreux Festival recording. Piazzolla's energy has delicate brushstrokes and sweeping blasts, as does guitarist Hector Malvicino and the quintet's other luminaries. --Andrew Bartlett