Eduardo Gutiérrez del Barrio, known professionally as Eddie del Barrio, is an Argentinian composer, arranger, songwriter, and pianist. He is a founding member of the

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric gui ...

band

Caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

. He has collaborated with

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (abbreviated as EW&F or EWF) is an American band formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1969. Their music spans multiple genres, including jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, Latin and Afro-pop. They are among the best-selling ba ...

Stan Getz Stan Getz (born Stanley Gayetski; February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wis ...

Herb Alpert Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter, pianist, singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, conductor, painter, sculptor and theatre producer, who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (sometimes called "Herb Alpe ...

, and

Dianne Reeves Dianne Elizabeth Reeves (born October 23, 1956) is an American jazz singer, who has won five Grammy Awards for her albums. Early life and education Dianne Reeves was born in Detroit, Michigan, into a musical family. Her father sang, her mothe ...

Early life

Eduardo del Barrio was born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, Argentina, in 1937. In 1942 his family moved to Mendoza, where his father started a music school. Del Barrio is a classically trained pianist. At seventeen he led a jazz band, playing in clubs. In 1965 he moved to the United States. His brother Jorge del Barrio was classically trained and moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as an arranger.

Career

Eduardo del Barrio and Jorge Strunz of Costa Rica were the founding members of

, a

group. Caldera was composed of Del Barrio on keyboards, Strunz on guitar, Dean Cortez on bass and

Steve Tavaglione Steve "Tav" Tavaglione (born December 1, 1950) is an American woodwind and EWI musician. He is best known for his work as a co-founder of the Latin fusion group Caldera with Jorge Strunz and Eduardo del Barrio, his work with Michael Jackson, Whi ...

on saxophone, Cuban drummer

Carlos Vega Carlos Vega (December 7, 1956 – April 7, 1998) was a Cuban-born Los Angeles-based session drummer best known for his performances with James Taylor. As a part of the L.A. studio scene from the late 1970s through the 1990s, Vega contributed to ...

, and Brazilian percussionist Mike Azevedo. In 1976

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

signed the band and released the debut album ''

''. Del Barrio co-produced the albums ''

Sky Islands Sky islands are isolated mountains surrounded by radically different lowland environments. The term originally referred to those found on the Mexican Plateau and has extended to similarly isolated high-elevation forests. The isolation has s ...

'', '' Time and Chance'', and ''

Dreamer The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, known as the DREAM Act, is a United States legislative proposal that would grant temporary #For conditional resident status, conditional residency, with the right to work, for Illegal ...

''.

Larry Dunn Larry Dunn (born Lorenzo Russell Dunn; June 19, 1953) is an American keyboardist, producer, songwriter and musical director, known as one of the original members of the music group Earth, Wind & Fire. Dunn was inducted, as a former band member, in ...

, co-produced Sky Islands. Caldera's song "Out of the Blue" reached position 95 on the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Soul Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 po ...

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

on January 22, 1977. "Time and Chance" reached position 46 on the Billboard Best Selling Jazz LPs chart in October 1978. "Ancient Source" was sampled by American rapper

Joey Badass Jo-Vaughn Virginie Scott (born January 20, 1995), known professionally as Joey Badass (stylized as Joey Bada$$), is an American rapper and actor. Born in Brooklyn, New York City, he formed the regional hip-hop group Pro Era in 2011, with whom h ...

on his song "95 Til' Infinity". Del Barrio composed "

Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

", "Runnin' ", "

Star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

", "Sailaway", "Sparkle", "Straight from the Heart" and "Miracles" for Earth, Wind & Fire. "Runnin'" was re-recorded by American jazz musician Marcus Miller with additional music and lyrics under the title "Keep 'Em Runnin". "Fantasy" received a nomination for Grammy Award for

Best R&B Song The Grammy Award for Best R&B Song (sometimes known as the R&B Songwriter's Award) has been awarded since 1969. From 1969 to 2000, it was known as the Grammy Award for Best Rhythm and Blues Song. Beyoncé has won it a record five times, while Ba ...

. "Runnin" won a Grammy award for Best R&B Instrumental Performance. Del Barrio collaborated with

during the recording sessions for Caldera's album ''Sky Islands'' when she sang on the song "Ancient Source". Reeves sang a version of "Ancient Source" on her album ''The Nearness of You''. Del Barrio was a composer on her albums ''

'' and ''Bridges'' and produced her album ''Art and Survival''. During 2005, the

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic (LA Phil) is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. The orchestra holds a regular concert season from October until June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from ...

commissioned Del Barrio to compose a symphonic jazz mass. "Misa Justa" was written for an orchestra, large choir, five jazz soloists, bass, and drums. Dianne Reeves,Billy Childs,

Hubert Laws Hubert Laws (born November 10, 1939) is an American flutist, piccoloist and saxophonist with a career spanning over 50 years in jazz, classical, and other music genres. Laws is one of the few classical artists who has also mastered jazz, pop ...

,Pal McCandless and

Terence Blanchard Terence Oliver Blanchard (born March 13, 1962) is an American jazz trumpeter and composer. He has also written two operas and more than 80 film and television scores. Blanchard has been nominated for two Academy Awards for Original Score for ''B ...

made guest appearances at the concert, which premiered at the

Walt Disney Concert Hall The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, California, is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center and was designed by Frank Gehry. It was opened on October 23, 2003. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Av ...

. Del Barrio began his collaboration with

by composing four songs for his 1988 album ''Under a Spanish Moon''. He composed and played on Alpert's '' North on South St.'' and worked as an orchestrator on Alpert's album ''

Midnight Sun Midnight sun, also known as polar day, is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, when the Sun remains visible at the local midnight. When midnight sun is see ...

''. Del Barrio then arranged, orchestrated, and played keyboards on Alpert's album ''Steppin' Out''.''Steppin' Out'' won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album in 2013. Herb Alpert signed Del Barrio to A&M, where he recorded his album ''Free Play''. Del Barrio worked as a composer, orchestrator, and keyboard player on

's album ''Apasionado''. The album received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Jazz Fusion Performance.

Awards and honors

* Grammy Award nomination,

, "

" by Earth, Wind & Fire, 1978

Discography

* ''Free Play'' (A&M, 1991)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Del Barrio, Eddie 1937 births Argentine composers Argentine jazz pianists Living people