Leandro "Gato" Barbieri (November 28, 1932 – April 2, 2016) was an Argentine

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

tenor saxophonist who rose to fame during the

free jazz Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...

movement in the 1960s and is known for his

Latin jazz Latin jazz is a genre of jazz with Latin American rhythms. The two main categories are Afro-Cuban jazz, rhythmically based on Cuban popular dance music, with a rhythm section employing ostinato patterns or a clave (rhythm), clave, and Afro-Brazil ...

recordings of the 1970s. His nickname, Gato, is Spanish for "cat".

Biography

Born to a family of musicians, Barbieri began playing music after hearing

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz Saxophone, saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of beb ...

's "Now's the Time". He played the

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

and later the

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

while performing with Argentine pianist

Lalo Schifrin Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores since the 1950s, incorporating jazz and Music of Latin America, Lati ...

in the late 1950s. By the early 1960s, while playing in Rome, he also worked with the trumpeter Don Cherry. By now influenced by

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...

's late recordings, as well as those from other

saxophonists such as

Albert Ayler Albert Ayler (; July 13, 1936 – November 25, 1970) was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist and composer. After early experience playing rhythm and blues and bebop, Ayler began recording music during the free jazz era of the 1960s. Ho ...

and

Pharoah Sanders Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound", San ...

, he began to develop the warm and gritty tone with which he is associated. In the late 1960s, he was fusing music from South America into his playing and contributed to multi-artist projects like

Charlie Haden Charles Edward Haden (August 6, 1937 – July 11, 2014) was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator whose career spanned more than fifty years. Haden helped to revolutionize the harmonic concept of bass playin ...

's '' Liberation Music Orchestra'' and

Carla Bley Carla Bley (born Lovella May Borg; May 11, 1936 – October 17, 2023) was an American jazz composer, pianist, organist, and bandleader. An important figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960s, she gained acclaim for her jazz opera ''Escalator ...

's ''

Escalator over the Hill ''Escalator over the Hill'' (or ''EOTH'') is mostly referred to as a jazz opera, but it was released as a "chronotransduction", with "words by Paul Haines (poet), Paul Haines, adaptation and music by Carla Bley, production and coordination by Mic ...

''. His score for

Bernardo Bertolucci Bernardo Bertolucci ( ; ; 16 March 1941 – 26 November 2018) was an Italian film director and screenwriter with a career that spanned 50 years. Considered one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema, Bertolucci's work achieved inte ...

's 1972 film ''

Last Tango in Paris ''Last Tango in Paris'' (; ) is a 1972 Erotic film, erotic Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. The film stars Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider (actor), Maria Schneider and Jean-Pierre Léaud, and portrays a rec ...

'' earned him a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

and led to a record deal with

Impulse! Records Impulse! Records (occasionally styled as "¡mpulse! Records" and "¡!") is an American jazz record label established by Creed Taylor in 1960. John Coltrane was among Impulse!'s earliest signings. Thanks to consistent sales and positive critiques ...

. By the mid-1970s, he was recording for

A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...

and moved his music towards soul-jazz and jazz-pop. ''Caliente!'' (1976) included his best-known song, a rendition of

Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, best known as a founding member of the Rock music, rock band Santana (band), Santana. Born and raised in Mexico where he developed his musical background, he r ...

's " Europa". ''Caliente!'' and his follow-up album, ''Ruby Ruby'' (1977) were both produced by fellow musician and label co-founder,

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 ...

. Although he continued to record and perform well into the 1980s, including composing the scores to films such as '' Firepower'' (1979) and '' Strangers Kiss'' (1983), the death of his wife Michelle led him to withdraw from the public arena. He returned to recording and performing in the late 1990s, composing original scores at the behest of friend Bahman Maghsoudlou for Amir Naderi's ''Manhattan by Numbers'' (1991) and Daryush Shokof's '' Seven Servants'' (1996). The album ''Qué Pasa'' (1997) moved more into the style of

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is commercially oriented crossover jazz music. Although often described as a "genre", it is a debatable and highly controversial subject in jazz music circles. As a radio format, however, smooth jazz radio became the successor to e ...

. Barbieri was the inspiration for the character Zoot in the fictional Muppet band Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. On April 2, 2016, Barbieri died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

in New York City at the age of 83.

Personal life

Barbieri married his first wife Michelle in 1960. She was also his manager and musical confidant. She died of cancer in 1995 after 10 years of treatment. During that time, Barbieri stopped recording and touring to care for her. After her death, he resumed his career. He then met his second wife, Laura, who gave birth to their son Christian, in 1998.

Discography

As leader

* '' In Search of the Mystery'' (ESP Disk, 1967) * ''Obsession'' (Affinity, 1967, 978 * ''Confluence'' (Freedom, 1968) with

Dollar Brand Abdullah Ibrahim (born Adolph Johannes Brand on 9 October 1934), previously known as Dollar Brand, is a South African pianist and composer. His music reflects many of the musical influences of his childhood in the multicultural port areas of Cap ...

– also released as ''Hamba Khale!'' (1974) and ''I Grandi del Jazz'' (1976) * '' The Third World'' (Flying Dutchman, 1969) * '' Fenix'' (Flying Dutchman, 1971) * '' El Pampero'' (Flying Dutchman, 1971) * '' Under Fire'' (Flying Dutchman, 1971 973 * ''

'' (United Artists, 1972) * ''

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

'' (Flying Dutchman, 1973) * '' Chapter One: Latin America'' (Impulse!, 1973) * '' Chapter Two: Hasta Siempre'' (Impulse!, 1973) * '' Chapter Three: Viva Emiliano Zapata'' (Impulse!, 1974) * '' Yesterdays'' (Flying Dutchman, 1974) * '' Chapter Four: Alive in New York'' (Impulse!, 1975) * ''El Gato'' (Flying Dutchman, 1975 compilation) includes 1 previously unreleased track * ''Caliente!'' (A&M, 1976) * ''I Grandi del Jazz'' (1976) (Previously released as Confluence and Hamba Khale!) * ''Ruby Ruby'' (A&M, 1977) * ''Tropico'' (A&M, 1978) * ''Euphoria'' (A&M, 1979) * ''Bahia'' (1982) * ''Apasionado'' (1983) * ''Para Los Amigos'' (Doctor Jazz, 1984) * ''Passion And Fire'' (1988) * ''The Third World Revisited'' (1988 compilation) * '' Seven Servants'' (1996) * '' Qué Pasa'' (Columbia, 1997) * ''Che Corazón'' (Columbia, 1999) * ''The Shadow of The Cat'' (2002) * ''New York Meeting'' (2010)

As sideman

With Don Cherry * '' Togetherness'' (Durium, 1965) * '' Complete Communion'' (Blue Note, 1966) * '' Live at Cafe Montmartre 1966'' (3 volumes) (ESP-Disk, 1966) * '' Symphony for Improvisers'' (Blue Note, 1966) With

Gary Burton Gary Burton (born January 23, 1943) is an American jazz Vibraphone, vibraphonist, composer, and educator. Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the prevailing two-mallet technique. This approach caused ...

*'' A Genuine Tong Funeral'' (RCA, 1967) With the Jazz Composer's Orchestra * '' The Jazz Composer's Orchestra'' (1968) With Alan Shorter * ''

Orgasm Orgasm (from Greek , ; "excitement, swelling"), sexual climax, or simply climax, is the sudden release of accumulated sexual excitement during the sexual response cycle, characterized by intense sexual pleasure resulting in rhythmic, involu ...

'' (Verve, 1968) With

* '' Liberation Music Orchestra'' (Impulse!, 1969) With

and Paul Haines * ''

Escalator Over The Hill ''Escalator over the Hill'' (or ''EOTH'') is mostly referred to as a jazz opera, but it was released as a "chronotransduction", with "words by Paul Haines (poet), Paul Haines, adaptation and music by Carla Bley, production and coordination by Mic ...

'' (JCOA, 1971) * '' Tropic Appetites'' (Watt, 1974) With

Oliver Nelson Oliver Edward Nelson (June 4, 1932 – October 28, 1975) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger, composer, and bandleader. His 1961 Impulse! album '' The Blues and the Abstract Truth'' (1961) is regarded as one of the most signi ...

*'' Swiss Suite'' (Flying Dutchman, 1971) With

Antonello Venditti Antonio "Antonello" Venditti (born 8 March 1949) is an Italian singer-songwriter and pianist who became popular in the 1970s for the social themes addressed in his songs. Biography Antonello Venditti was born in Rome, the son of Vincenzino Ita ...

* ''Da Sansiro A Samarcanda (1992) With Letizia Gambi * ''Introducing Letizia Gambi'' (Via Veneto Jazz, 2012)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barbieri, Gato 1932 births 2016 deaths Argentine composers Argentine film score composers Argentine male film score composers Latin jazz saxophonists Argentine jazz tenor saxophonists Male saxophonists Flying Dutchman Records artists Impulse! Records artists Musicians from Rosario, Santa Fe Free jazz saxophonists ESP-Disk artists Smooth jazz saxophonists Argentine people of Italian descent Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Deaths from pneumonia in New York City Male jazz musicians 20th-century saxophonists Jazz Composer's Orchestra members