This is the first time Astor Piazzolla's albums have been available on again in their original versions since they were first issued by American Clavé. The booklet notes include original and new annotations by Kip Hanrahan, the album's producer and founder of American Clavé, as well as an in-depth essay by journalist Fernando González. He translated and annotated Piazzolla's memoirs and wrote the accompanying booklet texts for four of his albums. Originally scheduled for release in 2021 to coincide with Piazzolla's 100th birthday, this reissue marks the beginning of the second century of Piazzolla's enduring influence González says in his 2021 note: 'In May 1986, Astor Piazzolla, the creator of 'Tango Nuevo,' entered the Manhattan studio with his quintet to record Zero Hour. It would become the first of three momentous recordings that would eventually establish him in the U.S. and cement his reputation around the world. Although Piazzolla was known as the progenitor of 'Tango Nuevo,' Hanrahan says in his preface, 'I'm not sure Astor really liked tango, or loved it, or hated it. I think he loved the music his father surrounded the family with as the sound of what they had left behind in Argentina ... It was the sonic identity that set them apart from the Italian and Jewish families who lived around them on the Lower East Side of New York, where Astor grew up. 'When I listen to Astor, I don't really hear the tango reinvented and rescued by a brilliant composer, I hear the music of a troubled, multi-layered, restless, witty man rearranging the vocabulary of his father's dreams.' Astor Piazzolla's Tango Nuevo, which incorporates classical forms and jazz elements into traditional tango, was so controversial when it first appeared that Piazzolla found his life threatened on numerous occasions and fled into exile. The traditional tango, born in the brothels of Buenos Aires, as well as jazz began in New Orleans, had been persecuted from its origins for decades. Piazzolla, with his innovative style and desire to legitimize the tango and bring it to a serious musical audience, changed the face of this music forever. When Tango Zero Hour was first released, Piazzolla was at the peak of his powers. The Village Voice weekly called Piazzolla 'a modern master,' while The New York Times wrote: 'To hear Piazzolla's tangos as musical marvels is beside the point. Just as the provocative lines and the lengthy melodies defy and embrace each other, the tango suggests that even in the modern world romance persists. Nonesuch Records is releasing a three LP/three CD box set of albums by the great Argentine composer, bandleader and bandoneon player Astor Piazzolla - originally released in the 1980s by the American Clavé Records label and reissued by Nonesuch more than two decades ago. The Astor Piazzolla: The American Clavé Recordings collector's box set is the first release to offer this groundbreaking trio of albums - Tango: Zero Hour, La Camorra: The Solitude of Passionate Provocation, and The Rough Dancer and the Cyclical Night (Tango Apasionado) - remastered as a set