Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla (Spanish pronunciation: [piasola], Italian pronunciation: [pjattsolla]; March 11, 1921 – July 4, 1992) was an Argentine tango composer, bandoneon player and arranger. His oeuvre revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music. A virtuoso bandoneonist, he regularly performed his own compositions with a variety of ensembles.

In 1992, American music critic Stephen Holden described Pizzolla as "the world's foremost composer of tango music"

Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in 1921, the only child of Italian immigrant parents, Vicente "Nonino" Piazzolla and Asunta Manetti. His grandfather, a sailor and fisherman named Pantaleón Piazzolla, had immigrated to Mar del Plata from Trani, a seaport in the southeastern Italian region of Apulia, at the end of the 19th century.

In 1925 Astor Piazzolla moved with his family to Greenwich Village in New York City, which in those days was a violent neighbourhood inhabited by a volatile mixture of gangsters and hard-working immigrants. His parents worked long hours and Piazzolla soon learnt how to take care of himself on the streets despite having a limp. At home he would listen to his father's records of the tango orchestras of Carlos Gardel and Julio de Caro, and was also exposed to jazz and classical music, including Bach, from an early age. He began to play the bandoneon after his father spotted one in a New York pawn shop in 1929.

After their return to New York City from a brief visit to Mar del Plata in 1930, the family went to live in Little Italy in lower Manhattan, and in 1932 Piazzolla composed his first tango La catinga. The following year Piazzolla took music lessons with the Hungarian classical pianist Bela Wilda, a student of Rachmaninoff, who taught him to play Bach on his bandoneon. In 1934 he met Carlos Gardel, one of the most important figures in the history of tango, and played a cameo role as a young paper boy in his movie El día que me quieras.[citation needed] Gardel invited the young bandoneon player to join him on his current tour. Much to Piazzolla's dismay, his father decided that he was not old enough to go along. This early disappointment of not being allowed to join the tour proved to be a blessing in disguise, as it was on this tour that Gardel and his entire orchestra perished in a plane crash in 1935. In later years, Piazzolla made light of this near miss, joking that had his father not been so careful, he would now be playing the harp, rather than the bandoneon.

Discography
    Two Argentinians in Paris (with Lalo Schifrin, 1955)
    Sinfonía de Tango (Orquesta de Cuerdas, 1955)
    Tango progresivo (Buenos Aires Octeto, 1957)
    Octeto Buenos Aires (Octeto Buenos Aires, 1957)
    Astor Piazzolla (Orquesta de Cuerdas, 1957)
    Tango in Hi-Fi (Orquesta de Cuerdas, 1957)
    Adiós Nonino (1960)
    Piazzolla Interpreta A Piazzolla (Quinteto, 1961)
    Piazzolla … O No? (canta Nelly Vazquez, Quinteto, 1961)
    Nuestro Tiempo (canta Hector de Rosas, Quinteto, 1962)
    Tango Contemporáneo (Nuevo Octeto, 1963)
    Tango Para Una Cuidad (canta Héctor De Rosas, Quinteto, 1963)
    Concierto en el Philharmonic Hall de New York (Quinteto, 1965)
    El Tango. Jorge Luis Borges – Astor Piazzolla (Orquesta and Quinteto, 1965)
    La Guardia Vieja (1966)
    La Historia del Tango. La Guardia Vieja (Orquesta, 1967)
    La Historia del Tango. Época Romántica (Orquesta, 1967)
    ION Studios (1968)
    María de Buenos Aires (Orquesta, 1968)
    Piazzolla En El Regina (Quinteto, 1970)
    Original Tangos from Argentina Vol. 1 & 2 (solo bandeneon, 1970)
    Pulsación (Orquesta, 1970)
    Piazzolla-Troilo (Dúo de Bandoneónes, 1970)
    Concerto Para Quinteto (Quinteto, 1971)
    La Bicicleta Blanca (Amelita Baltar y Orquesta, 1971)
    En Persona (recita Horacio Ferrer, Astor Piazzolla, 1971)
    Música Popular Contemporánea de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Vol.1 & 2 (Conjunto 9, 1972)
    Roma (Conjunto 9, 1972)
    Libertango (Orquesta, 1974)
    Piazzolla and Amelita Baltar (1974)
    Summit (Reunión Cumbre) (with Gerry Mulligan, Orquesta, 1974)
    Suite Troileana-Lumiere (Orquesta, 1975)
    Buenos Aires (1976)
    Il Pleut Sur Santiago (Orquesta, 1976)
    Piazzolla & El Conjunto Electrónico (Conjunto Electrónico, 1976)
    Piazzolla en el Olimpia de Paris (Conjunto Electrónico, 1977)
    Chador (1978)
    Lo Que Vendrá (Orquesta de Cuerdas and Quinteto Tango Nuevo, 1979)
    Piazzolla-Goyeneche En Vivo, Teatro Regina (Quinteto Tango Nuevo, 1982)
    Oblivion (Orquesta, 1982)
    Suite Punta Del Este (Quinteto, 1982)
    Live in Lugano (Quinteto, 1983)
    SWF Rundfunkorchester (1983)
    Concierto de Nácar – Piazzolla en el Teatro Colón (Conjunto 9 y Orquesta Filarmónica del Teatro Colón, 1983)
    Live in Colonia (Quinteto Tango Nuevo, 1984)
    Montreal Jazz Festival (Quinteto Tango Nuevo, 1984)
    Live in Wien Vol.1 (Quinteto Tango Nuevo, 1984)
    Enrico IV (sound track of film Enrico IV, 1984)
    Green Studio (1984)
    Teatro Nazionale di Milano (1984)
    El Nuevo Tango. Piazzolla y Gary Burton (Quinteto, 1986)
    El Exilio de Gardel (soundtrack of film El Exilio de Gardel, Quinteto, 1986)
    Tango: Zero Hour (Quinteto Tango Nuevo, 1986)
    Tristezas de un Doble A (Quinteto Tango Nuevo, 1987)
    Central Park Concert (Quinteto, 1987)
    Concierto para Bandoneón – Tres Tangos with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, Lalo Schifrin (conductor), Princeton University (1987)
    Sur (soundtrack of film Sur, Quinteto, 1988)
    Live in Tokyo 1988 (Quinteto Tango Nuevo, 1988)
    Luna. Live in Amsterdam (Quinteto Tango Nuevo, 1989)
    Lausanne Concert (Sexteto Nuevo Tango, 1989)
    Live at the BBC (Sexteto Nuevo Tango, 1989)
    La Camorra (Quinteto Tango Nuevo, 1989)
    Hommage a Liege: Concierto para bandoneón y guitarra/Historia del Tango (1988) with Liège Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Leo Brouwer. The concerto was performed by Piazzolla with Cacho Tirao, the Historia by Guy Lukowski and Marc Grawels.
    Bandoneón Sinfónico (1990)
    The Rough Dancer and the Cyclical Night (Tango apasionado) (1991)
    Five Tango Sensations (Astor Piazzolla and the Kronos Quartet, 1991)
    Original Tangos from Argentina (1992)
    Lausanne Concert (Sexteto Nuevo Tango, 1993)
    Central Park Concert 1987 (Quinteto, 1994)
    El Nuevo Tango de Buenos Aires (Quinteto, 1995)
    57 Minutos con la Realidad (Sexteto Nuevo Tango, 1996)
    Tres Minutos con la Realidad (Sexteto Nuevo Tango, 1997)