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How much they recorded, year by year, split by genre, or by vocal versus instrumental.
Each row is a singer; every block a year they recorded. Darker blocks = more recordings that year. Click a block to see (and play) what's inside.
Tangos the orchestra recorded that its leader also composed.
Everyone who recorded or played with the orchestra. Each card links to their page, so you can follow a singer or player to the other orchestras they featured in.
Who was in the band, and when. Each era joins to the recordings tagged to it, so lineups the corpus can't name are added over time.
Era and lineup research by Todo Tango. Endless gratitude to them for documenting who played in each orchestra, and for sharing it so generously. Go explore their wonderful work.
Led throughout by Carlos Di Sarli on piano. Each era below is a chapter of the orchestra's lineup. The ones still marked as not documented are waiting to be filled in.
Di Sarli's early sextets, which recorded 48 numbers between 1928 and 1931. Roberto Guisado, the violinist who would concertmaster the orchestra for decades, and bassist Domingo Capurro were already at his side. Under contract to Victor, he also secretly backed Mercedes Carné and Tania on rival labels, uncredited.
Di Sarli formed his own orchestra in 1938 and, in December 1939, cut its first two tangos, "Corazón" and "Retirao". Roberto Rufino, the young singer who defined the early orchestra, replaced Ignacio Murillo in 1939.
The section widened to five violins, deepening the lush, unhurried Di Sarli sweep. Roberto Rufino sang, and in 1942 Alberto Podestá joined him.
A trimmer lineup for the mid-forties. Alberto Podestá carried the vocals, and in 1945 Jorge Durán, who would record more with Di Sarli than anyone but Rufino, joined.
Ángel Ramos and a returning Roberto Mititieri filled out the bandoneóns while Hamlet Greco took over the bass. In 1947 the young Leopoldo Federico replaced Félix Verdi; in 1949 Di Sarli dissolved the orchestra and stepped away into the real-estate business.
Di Sarli resumed his orchestra in 1951, the first in Argentina to release its new recordings on vinyl. Oscar Serpa and Mario Pomar sang. Roberto Guisado again led a six-violin section.
The Victor period, with Elvino Vardaro among the violins and a bandoneón line led by José Libertella and Julián Plaza. Rodolfo Galé and Argentino Ledesma sang; Jorge Durán returned in 1957.
A large, brilliant orchestra with an eight-strong violin section, Roberto Guisado once more at its head. Horacio Casares and Jorge Durán sang.
Di Sarli's last recordings, for Philips, cut instrumentally and overdubbed with the voices of Jorge Durán and Horacio Casares. After his death in 1960 the label replaced four Durán vocals with Edmundo Rivero, who was never a member, a commercial trick.
These recordings aren't sorted into an era yet.