Gato Barbieri - El Pampero 1971

Personnel

Gato Barbieri (Tenor Saxophone)

Lonnie Liston Smith (piano)

Chuck Rainey (electric bass)

Bernard Purdie (drums)

Sonny Morgan (conga)

Nana Vasconcelos (percussion)

Track Listing

1. El Pampero (Gato Barbieri)

2. Mi Buenos Aires Querido (Carlos Gardel - Alfredo Lepera)

3. Brasil (Aldo Cabral - Benedicto Lacerda)

4. El Arriero (Atahualpa Yupanqui)

5. El Gato (Oliver Nelson)

For real jazz fans, two words suffice for this recording: Get it. El Pampero is one of the greatest live jazz recordings ever made, a showcase for the soaring tenor saxophone of Gato Barbieri and a primer on what spontaneous jazz music can aspire to at its most passionate and joyous. The ensemble work by Gato's partners on this outing is superb. And after all these years, I still believe that the way Gato Barbieri weaves the hypnotic folk music of South America into the very North American textures of mainstream jazz points the way to the future for this still vibrant form of music.