Nickname: El colorado
Pianist, leader and composer.
(November 2, 1910… Read Full Bio ↴Nickname: El colorado
Pianist, leader and composer.
(November 2, 1910 - March 31, 1992)

He was born at the locality of Adrogué (south of grand Buenos Aires) and since early childhood he started to study sight-reading and harmony. His early gigs were accompanying the singer Juan Giliberti, who used to announce his shows with advertisements that said that Gardel himself had appointed him as his musical heir.

Soon he switched to Anselmo Aieta's orchestra replacing the pianist Juan Polito. A curious information: in that line-up Juan D'Arienzo played violin.

Together with the bandoneonist Ernesto de la Cruz, he accompanied the singer Félix Gutiérrez, a successful refrain singer in several orchestras of the period. Briefly, around 1934, he joined the orchestra of Graciano de Leone. Later he teamed-up with Daniel Álvarez and even later, he joined Los Mendocinos orchestra led by Francisco Lauro.

Only after 1940 he put together his own orchestra, debuting on March 20, 1941 at the café Marzotto on Corrientes street, with the vocalist Héctor Morea, the only one of his singers who did not succeed in having a recording date.

He played on radio El Mundo, with the voices of the above-mentioned Morea and the new member, Floreal Ruiz. So we arrived at the “Glostora Tango Club”, a mythical radio program which was daily broadcasted a little before the most popular theater serial on radio: “Los Pérez García”.

So, De Angelis achieved fame and popularity and it was not strange that the Odeon label included him with its artists, where he recorded 486 numbers, from July 23, 1943 to January 21, 1977.

De Angelis was distinguished by choosing very good singers, such as: Floreal Ruiz, Carlos Dante, Julio Martel, Oscar Larroca, Juan Carlos Godoy, Roberto Florio, Roberto Mancini, Lalo Martel, among others.

Carlos Dante's case is quite special because he had already been a consecrated refrain singer and joined the orchestra in his plenitude, becoming its best singer, its distinct seal.

In the forties Alfredo De Angelis was the promoter of the vocal duets. Revising his discography the team Dante-Martel stands out in first place with their “pearls” "Pregonera", "Remolino" and "Pastora", among others. The Dante-Larroca duo comes after, and later Juan Carlos Godoy with Lalo Martel and Roberto Mancini.

He composed "El taladro", as homage to the Banfield soccer club, "Pregonera", "Pastora" (both with lyrics by José Rótulo), "Qué lento corre el tren" (lyrics by Carmelo Volpe) and that melodic wonder that is "Remolino" (with Rótulo as well).

De Angelis neither had Troilo's transcendence nor Pugliese's, but he was an honest leader that sought refuge in the traditional tango which was easily understood by the people. The evidence is in the amount of records that he recorded and that resulted in an impressive commercial success.