Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla is born on March 11 in Mar del Plata (Argentina), in the family home at 2527 Rivadavia Street. He is the only child of Vicente Nonino Piazzolla and Asunta Manetti. His father names him after his friend, Astor Bolognini, a motorcycle racer and cellist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Being born with clubfoot, he has to be operated on his right leg several times. A slight difference with the other leg would remain as a sequel.

The family settles down in New York, at 8 St. Mark’s Place, close to Little Italy and the Jewish Quarter. Vicente starts working as a barber and Asunta learns cosmetology.

He is given his first bandoneon at the age of eight, bought from a pawnshop by his father. Due to the Great Depression, the family temporarily returns to Mar del Plata. During those nine months, he takes bandoneon lessons with Libero Pauloni, then with his brother, Homero.

The Piazzollas return to New York, this time to an apartment at 313 9 East Street. He begins to be more in contact with the jazzy atmosphere that dominates the city: Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Al Jolson, Sophie Taulker.

He studies bandoneon with Andrés D’Aquila, who has played in tango orchestras in Buenos Aires. Among his incipient performances in different local venues, universities and on the radio, he makes his first recording ever: Marionette Espanol. This non-commercial aluminium record was the result of a radio intervention at the Radio Recording Studio at 1619 Broadway St., New York.

He participates in festivals and concerts. He is first documented publicly for his performance in the Roerich Society in New York. He gives performances at “El Gaucho”, a restaurant frequented by Vicente—Astor’s father—and other Argentines. He occasionally plays with singer and guitarist Agustín Cornejo.

He takes music lessons with Hungarian pianist Bela Wilda, a disciple of Rachmaninov. With Wilda, he begins to familiarize with historical composers, such as Johann Sebastian Bach, who leaves an impression on him: “With Wilda I learned to love Bach”.

He meets Gardel in New York, who has travelled there to shoot the film El día que me quieras. Since Vicente was an admirer of the singer, a friendship with the family develops. Astor plays his bandoneon for Gardel and serves him as bilingual guide in the city; he even takes part in a scene from the film (the one that has become an emblem in the history of tango); he plays the role of a random canillita (paperboy). As a result of his closeness with Gardel, he meets and takes harmony lessons with Terig Tucci, an Argentine musician and the musical director of Gardel’s films in New York.

The Piazzollas move back to Mar del Plata for good. During a radio audition, he discovers violinist Elvino Vardaro and finally puts together the original triad of his musical preference: the Bach of his New York teacher, Bela Wilda; the jazz milieu of New York during those years and now the tango of the Vardaro Sextet. He takes part in some small unknown groups in Mar del Plata.