Word: barbieri
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Gato Barbieri, the Argentinian tenor sax player, brings a similar spirit to his jazz. Whatever jazz purists may say, Barbieri--who has been criticized for being overly slick--has produced a rich new album this year. He was greatly influenced by John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman, and from 1964 on has gained a reputation as a leader in avant-garde jazz. His work has inclined lately to the near-orchestral, but his sax still sounds the way a glider might sound if it made music--it soars and dips smoothly, apparently without artifice. He plays a long and difficult...
...elsewhere on the album, Barbieri manages to combine such apparently irreconcilable genres as folk guitar, cool jazz and assorted polyrhythms. "Fiesta," the finest track in this combination of styles, opens with guitars reminiscent of the Fronterizos, renowned exponents of Argentine folk music. Enter the jazz element. Barbieri overlays the backing with a spare yet haunting melody. Someone cries "Hey! Adentro!" and the guitars are the focus of attention before the horn brings in the melody again...
Throughout the album, this skilled interweaving of instruments and themes recurs. Such conscious enriching can occasionally sound as pretentious as Barbieri's notes on the record...
Despite the control, the virtuosity, the hybrid quality of the musical technique--there's something you can't explain away in Barbieri's music. His photo on the album cover shows him engulfed in flames, and the image is appropriate...
While I am on the subject of Handy, let me once and for all pronounce disco music as a past tense art. Ever since Harold Melvin had a parting of the ways with the Blue Notes, and Gato Barbieri's "I Want You" took the nation by storm (count the cliches) disco's tide has been ebbing. So, what are we going to dance to? Just as the jazz musicians crossed over into rock, I've been wondering when they were going to move into the dance market. Don't be surprised if some young group leader decides to turn...