To hear Gato Barbieri applying his distinctive sound to versions of some of the key pieces of the last sixty years is sheer pleasure.
RED Records
Gato Barbieri (tenor saxophone); Franco D’Andrea (piano); Giovanni Tommaso (bass); Pepito Pignatelli (drums)
Recorded in Rome, Spring 1968
CD1
1.Terre Lontane 06:24 / 2.So What 10:54 / 3. Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise 03:35 / 4. All Blues 10:54 / 5. Maiden Voyage 09:06 / 6. Nardis 08:53 / 7. Lush Life 05:27 /8. Tension 07:11
CD2
1.Jayne 09:09 / 2. Anthropology 06:24 / 3. New Rumba 06:07 / 4.’Round About Midnight 06:09 / 5. Gato Blues 06:55 / 6. Epistrophy 05:43 / 7.In Search Of The Mystery 05:59 / 8. When Will The Blues Leave? 07:56
If you like improvisation rough-hewn, passionate, torn from the bowels of the horn then you probably enjoy Gato Barbieri. Sydney Bechet, Albert Ayler Earl Bostic, Coleman Hawkins were all players who had a distinctive sound like Gato, before the jazz academics started to smooth tones out.
During the early sixties Barbier worked with avant-garde musicians. Carla Bley appreciated the pungency of Barbieri’s playing and added his sound to Escalator Over The Hill,to the Music Liberation Orchestra and to A Genuine Tong Funeral On “Viva La Quince Brigada”, Barbieri delivers an intense solo that starts contemplatively and builds into powerful music at the top of his horn’s range
These albums allow us to hear what Barbieri was doing in the late sixties. What makes these “Standards” sessions so compelling is the juxtaposition of Barbieri’s fiery, free approach with a selection of key jazz milestones.
The first volume delves into a collection of modern jazz staples and older classics. Tracks like Miles Davis “So What” and “All Blues,” Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage,” and Billy Strayhorn’s “Lush Life” are treated by Barbieri with a combination of reverence and rebelliousness. His phrasing on “So What” is particularly striking, weaving through the modal structure with a balance of restraint and intensity. His improvisations are brimming with vitality, often bending the melody and pushing the harmonic limits, while the Italian rhythm section with Franco D’Andrea on piano, Giovanni Tommaso on bass, and Pepito Pignatelli on drums provides a fluent and adaptable foundation. They manage to accommodate Barbieri’s experimental flights while maintaining a strong, steady rhythmic pulse. The result is a stimulating tension between the familiar and the avant-garde.
The second volume continues this questing spirit, featuring compositions by Ornette Coleman “Jayne,” “When Will the Blues Leave?”, Thelonious Monk “‘Round About Midnight,” “Epistrophy”, Charlie Parker “Anthropology”, and even Barbieri’s own “Gato Blues” and “In Search of the Mystery.” Barbieri’s creativity is clear. His version of Ornette Coleman’s “Jayne,” for instance, starts off conventionally before Barbieri builds up the intensity, moving into even more high horn territory by the end. His virtuosity on “Anthropology” at a blistering tempo of 140 bpm further shows his technical prowess, even as he deliberately chooses to push beyond traditional bebop language. “Anthropology” shows that Gato had fluency rather than just a reliance on that sound. He skips skilfully through the changes playing the piece with idiosyncratic additions. “Anthropology” never sounded quite like this. “Epistrophy” gets a similar treatment except that Gato slows it down greatly and he leans into the vamps provided by D’Andrea. The characteristic roar surfaces as Gato imposes a Barbieri interpretation.
The present CDs are described as filling a gap in Barbieri’s discography. To hear Barbieri applying his distinctive sound to versions of some of the key pieces of the last sixty years is sheer pleasure. “Standards Lost and Found Vol. 1 & 2” are essential listening for any student of this key figure, offering a vital missing piece in the discography of a true innovator. They present Gato Barbieri, not just as a master of emotion and sound, but as an artist exploring the boundaries of jazz. While his later works might be more widely recognized, he wrote the music for Last Tango In Paris, these early recordings stand as powerful reminders of his spirit and his impact on the music. Who knows music like this might stimulate a re-evaluation of an original voice?
