For half a century Juan Carlos Paz, unlike any other, has had an aesthetical impact on the avant-garde in Argentina and Latin America as a composer and concert organizer, musicologist and educator, author and film actor: There is hardly a Latin-American composer today who has not been influenced by Paz. This immense influence is based not only on his varied work, ranging from twelve-tone technique via metrical experiments and jazz influences to physical compositions and free concepts, but also on the extensive contacts between the highly cultivated composer and artists, painters and writers of his day.