Gato BARBIERI - Chapter Four, Alive In New York 1975

Gato BARBIERI - Chapter Four, Alive In New York 1975
ASD-9303

Jazz

This is a truly amazing album. My introduction to Gato Barbieri was Third World, and I couldn't imagine that being bettered, but this live album just totally blew me away. I can’t say too much, as I know nothing about this guy, but for those personnel nuts out there you've got: Gato - tenor, Howard Johnson - various horns, Eddie Martinez - keys, Paul Metzke - guitar, Ron Carter - bass, Portinho - drums and Ray Armando - congas. Overall this is a lovely mix of soul jazz, spiritual groove and just excellent latin jazz fusion. I'm floundering here, so all I can say is give it a go; if you like stuff from the Impulse records '70s catalogue you won't be disappointed.
**
Taken from three nights of recording in February of 1975, Gato Barbieri's Chapter 4 is a continuation -- albeit in a concert setting -- of the music explored on his first three chapters for Impulse. Finally available on CD this set includes three Barbieri compositions, including the four-part suite "La China Leonicia" and his ubiquitous "Milonga Triste." The band here includes percussionist Ray Armando, bassist Ron Carter, multi-instrumentalist Howard Johnson (here on tuba, flügelhorn, and bass clarinet), pianist Eddie Martinez, guitarist Paul Metzke, and Brazilian drummer Portinho. The band here is full of warmth as well as fire, and the blowing is full of passion. Barbieri's bands in the early and mid-'70s were well rehearsed, and deeply in tune with his brand of Latin jazz. The empathy in the rhythm section is utterly uncanny as Carter, Martinez, and Portinho create a shape-shifting backdrop for the frontline players to wind and entwine one another, incorporating formal notions of song into the action. The opening "Milonga Triste" is a case in point as Gato plays the melody, Johnson, in his own gift for lyricism, plays contrapuntal fills, and Metzke trots out elongated fingerpicked figures for Barbieri to solo off of, never losing the lyric in the process even as the intensity of the tune grows with every chorus. The suite begins as a free blowing exercise where modes are kept hovering about for the frontline players to improvise from until a melody is established and a direction taken that changes continually in the following three parts. The album's closer, "Lluvia Azul," begins as a ballad of dreamy quality and becomes a Latin jazz steamer by the end of the first third of its ten minutes, and becomes a lyrical orgy of harmonic invention and chromatic interplay with burning salsa rhythms fueling the entire thing. Chapter 4: Alive in New York is one of Barbieri's finest moments on record.
By Thom Jurek. AMG.
**


Gato Barbieri- Tenor Sax, Quiro
Howard Johnson- Flugelhorn, Tuba, Baritone Sax, Tambourine, Clarinet, Percussion
Eddie Martinez- Piano
Paul Metzke- Guitar
Ron Carter- Bass
Portinho- Drums
Ray Armando- Congas, Percussion
**
A1. Milonga Triste 6:26
A2. La China Leoncia 15:47
B1. Baihai 10:46
B2. Lluvia Azul 9:52
**
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Gato BARBIERI - Chapter Three, Viva Emiliano Zapata 1974

Gato BARBIERI - Chapter Three, Viva Emiliano Zapata 1974
1978 Issue.ABC 7081

Jazz

Something of an unusual Gato Barbieri album in that it presents him in the context of Chico O'Farrill's big band and embeds his saxophone in some of O'Farrill's best arrangements.
The result is probably Barbieri's most accessible album, a wonderfully stylish work that may occasionally border on easy listening but that is never anything less than elegant, which is all the more interesting because Barbieri's saxophone sports a particularly raunchy sound on these tracks.
Taking O'Farrill's Nine Flags as a reference point, I'm tempted to say that this is really more of an O'Farrill album featuring Barbieri than the other way round, and that is definitely a good thing. This is fabulous latin-tinged big band music with some great saxophone playing in the spotlight. Recommended.
**
On the third of four “Chapters,” the intense tenor-saxophonist Gato Barbieri is accompanied by a big band playing Chico O’Farrill arrangements. The charts really showcase Barbieri at his peak, performing four of his melodic originals, “Milonga Triste” and “What a Difference a Day Makes.” This CD is highly recommended.
Scott Yanow All Music. AMG.
**
Ron Carter- Bass
Grady Tate- Drums
Jimmy Buffington, Ray Alonge- French Horn
Paul Metzke- Guitar [Electric]
George Davis- Guitar [Electric], [Acoustic]
Luis Mangual, Portinho , Ray Armando , Ray Mantilla- Percussion [Latin Percussion]
Eddie Martinez- Piano, Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes]
Seldon Powell- Piccolo Flute, Flute, Flute [Alto], Sax [Alto, Baritone]
Reissue Producer - Michael Cuscuna
Gato Barbieri- Sax [Tenor]
Buddy Morrow- Trombone
Alan Raph- Trombone [Bass]
Alan Rubin- Trumpet, Flugelhorn (tracks: 2 to 4, 6)
Bob McCoy- Trumpet, Flugelhorn (tracks: 1, 5)
Randy Brecker- (tracks: 1, 5) Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Victor Paz- (tracks: 1, 5)- Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Howard Johnson- Tuba, Flugelhorn, Clarinet [Bass]
**
A1. Milonga Triste 4:57
A2. Lluvia Azul 7:39
A3. El Sublime 5:51
B1. La Padrida 4:43
B2. Cuando Vuelva A Tu Lado 5:27
B3. Viva Emiliano Zapata 6:03
**
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Gato BARBIERI - Chapter One: Latin America 1973

Gato BARBIERI - Chapter One: Latin America 1973
ASD-9248

Jazz

Gato--Chapter One: Latin America starts off with a twelve and a half minute turd called "Encuentos". Twelve and a half minutes of goose honking sax noises and duck quacking flute tones is enough to drive anyone into a cranky mood, let alone somebody who'd rather be rocking to Eddie and Colin and their boys and girls. It's not that "Encuentos" is bad, but all that needs to be said is said in the first three minutes. That leaves nine and and a half minutes of goose honking and flute quacking to endure, every second of which is a second that one can never get back.
Gato has a nice tone when he plays smooth. The problem is, he chooses it do it far too infrequently. He's no Coltrane, his honking seems to serve no other purpose than to aggravate the listener. "India" follows "Encuentos" and it's OK, but again it's nine minutes of music that could have been covered in three. The entirety of the album seems to be an exploration in avian noises--actual and simulated--backed by Latin rhythms in tracks four or five times too long.
Of course, this is the big problem with mediocre jazz in the sixties and seventies. Every artist felt that he or she had something important to say, but by that point most of what needed to be said had already been uttered. Being no idiots, most jazz musicians went on to search for new things to express, but the fact is there just wasn't much new territory to explore. So, instead of being redundant, the intelligent jazz musician had nowhere to go but the Land of Unpleasant Wankery. As we all know, wanking is best done in private.
As one can see, the cover of this album is pretty cool. Gato is one dastardly cigarette smoking, leather jacket wearing motherfucker. It probably would have been pretty cool to be a part of this recording. Unfortunately, that's exactly the take-away as I listen to the record. I'd love to have played on it, but I'd rather not be stuck having to listen to it.
**
A1 Encuentros 12:29
A2 India 8:58
B1 La China Leoncia Arreo La Correntinada Trajo Entre La Muchachada La Flor De La Juventud 13:38
B2 Nunca Mas 5:40
B3 To Be Continued 2:29
**
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Gato BARBIERI & Abdullah IBRAHIM (Dollar Brand) - Confluence (Hamba Khale) 1975

Gato BARBIERI & Abdullah IBRAHIM (Dollar Brand) - Confluence (Hamba Khale) 1975

Jazz

Great stuff, a rare meeting between Argentine tenor player Gato Barbieri and South African pianist Dollar Brand, a true global meeting of the jazz minds and a recording that's stronger than most of the work either player was recording at the time! The format is incredibly spare, just tenor and piano, plus some occasional cello work by Brand  dark and angular, but also filled with small flowers of hope, flowering in the spontaneous presence of these two great minds. Tracks are long, with a free flowing quality that's infused with soul, spirit and titles include "Hamba Khale", "Wildrose", and "To Elsa".
**
Gato Barbieri is most known for composing the soundtrack to Last Tango In Paris, but this album is way out in it's own kind of way. Duets with Dollar Brand on piano and cello yield a high energy yet classy fest for the ears. A success!
**
A1. The Aloe and The Wildrose 14:20
A2. Hamba Khale! 2:12
B1. To Elsa 7:15
B2. Eighty First Street 8:20
**
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