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Gato Barbieri
Mystical yet fiery, passionately romantic yet supremely cool…You hear those first few notes from that instantly recognizable tenor and know you’re in the unique musical world of Gato Barbieri.
Beginning professionally as a teenager playing alto sax in Buenos Aires clubs, Barbieri’s enduring career has covered virtually the entire jazz landscape, from free jazz (with trumpeter Don Cherry in the mid-60s) and avante garde to film scoring and his ultimate embrace of Latin music throughout the 70s and 80s.
He began playing tenor with his own band in the late 50s and moved to Rome with his Italian born first wife Michelle in 1962, where he began collaborating with Cherry. The two recorded two albums for Blue Note, “Complete Communion.” and “Symphony for Improvisers,” which are considered classics of free group improvisations. Barbieri launched his career as a leader with the Latin flavored “The Third World,” in 1969, and later parlayed his Grammy winning “Last Tango In Paris” success into a career as a film composer, scoring a dozen international films over the years in Europe, South America and the United States.
From 1976 through 1979, Barbieri released four popular albums on A&M Records, the label owned by trumpet great Herb Alpert. “The Shadow of the Cat,” is a reunion of sorts for the two, with Alpert playing trumpet and trumpet solos on three songs.
Barbieri officially took up the clarinet at age 12 when he heard Charlie Parker’s “Now’s The Time,” and even as he continued private music lessons in Buenos Aires, he was playing his first professional gigs with Lalo Schifrin’s orchestra. “During that time, Juan Peron was in power”, he recalls. “We weren’t allowed to play all jazz; we had to include some traditional music, too. So we played tango and other things like carnavalito.” In Buenos Aires, Barbieri also had the opportunity to perform with visiting musicians like Cuban mambo king Perez Prado, Coleman Hawkins, Herbie Mann, Dizzy Gillespie, and João Gilberto.
Barbieri credits his learning of musical discipline to his years working with Don Cherry while living in Europe. While collaborating with Cherry in the mid ‘60’s, he also recorded with American expatriate Steve Lacy and South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim. Other associations during Barbieri’s free jazz days included time with Charlie Haden, Carla Bley and the Jazz Composer’s Orchestra, as well as dates with Stanley Clarke, Airto Moreira, Chico O’Farrell, and Lonnie Liston Smith.
He had recorded a handful of albums on the Flying Dutchman label in the early 70s and then signed with Impulse where he recorded his classic Chapter Series “Latin America ,” “Hasta Siempre,” “ Viva Emiliano Zapata,” and “Alive in New York .” While at Impulse, “Last Tango”hit, and by the mid-70s, his coarse, wailing tone began to mellow with ballads like “What A Difference A Day Makes” (known to Barbieri as the vintage bolero “Cuando Vuelva a tu Lado”) and Carlos Santana’s “Europa.” Barbieri’s A&M recordings of the late ‘70’s, featured this softer jazz approach, but early 80s dates like the live “Gato…Para Los Amigos,” had a more intense, rock influenced South American sound.
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Alan Shorter: Mephistopholes To Orgasm Revisited
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read moreDon Cherry: Complete Communion & Symphony for Improvisers Revisited
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read moreDon Cherry: Complete Communion & Symphony For Improvisers Revisited
by Mark Corroto
Before his departure, Don Cherry was a kind of Johnny Appleseed for what would eventually be called the “New Thing" in jazz. He can be heard in the midst of the innovative work of Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins, Albert Ayler, Steve Lacy, Archie Shepp, and John Tchicai. Cherry's fertilizations changed the sound of creative music then and now. His explorations into (what we now call) world music opened doors for countless non- American musicians to participate in creative improvised music. ...
read moreGato 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 ...
read moreGato 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, ...
read moreGato 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 ...
read moreGato Barbieri (1932-2016)
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Gato Barbieri, a fiery tenor saxophonist born in Argentina whose music for film and albums could whip up images ranging from steamy seduction to hysterical passion, died on April 2. He was 83. Influenced by the spiritual free-jazz of John Coltrane and Coltrane's disciples in the 1960s and Sonny Rollins in the 1970s, Barbieri nearly always thought in cinematic terms. He routinely created works of open-ended abandon and desire that churned and heaved, conjuring up images of the wild. Despite ...
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Gato Barbieri: 'Caliente!'
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
New York hit 90 degrees yesterday with 50% humidity. Though it's summer, the city hasn't really experienced that much heat this summer. At any rate, down came the shades, on went the air conditioning and I decided to spend my writing day listening to tenor saxophonist Gato Barbieri. The album that I kept coming back to was Caliente! (1976), though I love Que Passa (1997) and Barbrieri's magnum opus, Last Tango in Paris (1972). Caliente! was recorded for A&M Records ...
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Poncho Sanchez & Gato Barbieri at Lehman Center
Source:
Leah Grammatica Public Relations
LEHMAN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS presents TWO GIANTS OF LATIN MUSIC! PONCHO SANCHEZ & GATO BARBIERI Lehman Center for the Performing Arts continues its exciting season with a concert featuring two GRAMMY® Award-winning Latin jazz greats – PONCHO SANCHEZ and GATO BARBIERI – on Saturday, January 17, 2009 at 8pm. Conguero PONCHO SANCHEZ has led one of the most popular Latin jazz bands in the world for a quarter of a century, merging Afro-Cuban rhythms with the ...
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Revisiting Latin Jazz Classics: Chapter Three: Viva Emiliano Zapata, Gato Barbieri
Source:
All About Jazz
Gato Barbieri Ill - Cancels NYC Iridium Engagement
Source:
All About Jazz
Gato Barbieri, now legally blind from the effects of macular degeneration, has had to cancel his upcoming engagement (Oct. 5-8) at Iridium Jazz Club, NYC, due to illness.
Lois Roe, editor of El Pampero, the Official Gato Barbieri Newsletter, said: “We know that many of you travel some distance and make special arrangements in order to see Gato in concert and we are sorry for the disappointment and inconvenience this late cancellation may cause you.
As always, Gato appreciates your ...
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Les Paul (Mon) Mingus Legacy (Tues) Wed. Oct. 4 Terry Waldo 7:30pm + Eugene Fleming Tribute to Sam Cooke 9:30pm & 11pm, Oct. 5-8 Gato Barbieri at The Iridium Jazz Club
Source:
Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services
IRIDIUM JAZZ CLUB 1650 BROADWAY (Corner of 51st) NEW YORK, NY 10023 RESERVATIONS: 212-582-2121 NEW SET TIMES BEGINNING JUNE 1, 2006 8:30 & 10:30PM, Fri. & Sat. 3rd Sets AT MIDNIGHT Note: Set Times for Les Paul Remain at 8 & 10PM EVERY MONDAY LES PAUL AND HIS TRIO JOHN COLIANNI - PIANO - LOU PALLO - GUITAR, NICKI PARROTT - BASS Note: Set Times for Les Paul ...
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Les Paul (Tonight)Mingus Big Band (Tue.) The Music Of Frank Zappa (Wed.) Dec. 29-Jan. 1 Gato Barbieri at The Iridium Jazz Club
Source:
All About Jazz
December 26, 2005 To: Listings/Critics/Features From: JAZZ PROMO SERVICES Press Contact: JIM EIGO, [email protected] IRIDIUM JAZZ CLUB 1650 BROADWAY (Corner of 51st) NEW YORK, NY 10023 RESERVATIONS: 212-582-2121, www.iridiumjazzclub.com Sets at 8 & 10PM EVERY MONDAY LES PAUL AND HIS TRIO EVERY TUESDAY THE MINGUS BIG BAND This Week at The Iridium Dec. 28 ED PALERMO BIG BAND PLAYS THE MUSIC OF FRANK ZAPPA New Year's Dec. 29-Jan. 1 GATO BARBIERI _____________________________________________________________________ ________ Next Week Jan. 4 ED PALERMO BIG ...
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Gato Barbieri At The Iridium Jazz Club Nov. 11-14
Source:
All About Jazz
IRIDIUM JAZZ CLUB 1650 BROADWAY (Corner of 51st) NEW YORK, NY 10023 RESERVATIONS: 212-582-2121 IRIDIUM JAZZ CLUB CELEBRATING 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY 1994-2004 10 Years Presenting the Finest in Jazz! Nov. 11-14 GATO BARBIERI No Third Sets! Argentinian saxophonist Gato Barbieri (b. 1934) developed a full-throated, passionate tone combining the energy of John Coltrane's saxophone innovations and the romantic melodicisim of South American folk music. He began his career playing with Lalo ...
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Gato Barbieri
Instrument: Saxophone
Born: November 28, 1934
Died: April 2, 2016
