Articles

Gato Barbieri: In Search of the Mystery

By Lyn Horton

Argentinean reed man Gato Barbieri began his career in the 1960s, looking to establish a voice that separated him from his native musical language. Having recorded twice in bands led by his mentor, trumpeter Don Cherry, in Paris and with Italian pianist Giorgio Gaslini's large ensemble in Milan prior to this recording, Barbieri decided to go to New York to search for another beginning. In 1967, with a group that included Calo Scott on cello, the late bassist Sirone (née ...

Gato Barbieri: In Search of the Mystery

By Warren Allen

This is not dinner music, nor is it Last Tango in Paris, though there are actually hints of tango flitting around the mix. This is Gato Barbieri with a little extra scream in his step, moving out in the free vein of the '60s avant-garde--loud, brash, unpolished and unapologetic. Showing the influence of his work with Don Cherry, Barbieri brings tons of energy to this 1967 ESP session, which finds him conversing with an unusual sparring partner in Calo Scott, ...

Gato Barbieri: In Search of the Mystery

By Jerry D'Souza

Leandro “Gato" Barbieri has traversed a wide range of musical styles over his career. His earliest recordings counted Don Cherry, Abdullah Ibrahim and Roswell Rudd as collaborators. He was quick to settle into the avant-garde before exploring South American music. He later went on to play pop fanned tunes and disco music. Fortunately these commercialized transgressions were not long-lived. His strengths as an improviser and musical thinker continue to establish his credentials.

Barbieri's creative instincts come to life ...

Gato Barbieri: In Search of the Mystery

By Raul d'Gama Rose

Gato Barbieri winds up and uncorks a meandering apocalyptic shout that begins with a growling, sinewy tenor and often returns there via a continuous spiral of bell-like primal screeches. He is probing, poking the tones of the tenor and searching madly for a timbral key to unlock a hidden route to harmonic peace. On this seminal recording--In Search of the Mystery--from Stollman's ESP Disk, not even a year after Barbieri's monumental Cafè© Montmartre sessions with Don Cherry, Karl Berger, Aldo ...

Gato Barbieri: Chapter Four: Alive In New York

By Russ Musto

The final installment of Gato Barbieri's excellent Latin America series features the fire-breathing Argentinean tenor saxophonist leading a smoking international septet--with Howard Johnson (bass clarinet, flugelhorn and tuba), Eddie Martinez (keyboards), Paul Metzke (electric guitar), Ron Carter (bass), Portinho (drums) and Ray Armando (percussion)--at the Bottom Line back in 1975, a time when jazz was moving in many directions. A post-Coltrane avant gardist with a firm grounding in the tenor saxophone tradition, Barbieri merged the world music of his native ...

Gato Barbieri: Che Corazon

By AAJ Staff

When Gato Barbieri re-emerged on Columbia in 1997 after a long hiatus from recording, long-time followers wondered whether he would record straight-ahead jazz or embrace the type of lush pop-jazz he had recorded for A&M in the late 1970's. The distinctive tenor saxman opted to go the commercial route, but he kept his dignity intact. 1997's Que Pasa picked up where Barbieri's A&M output left off, and he has a very similar CD in Che Corazon. With guitarist Chuck Loeb ...