Tenor Saxophone, Composer (1932-2016)

Born Leandro Barbieri on 28 November 1932 in Rosario, Argentina, into a musical family. He earned the nickname "Gato" (Spanish for "cat") in the 1950s from scampering between clubs with his saxophone, gaining national prominence playing alto in Lalo Schifrin's orchestra in the late 1950s before switching to tenor saxophone and leading his own groups. In 1962 he moved to Rome, and in the 1960s became part of the free jazz movement, working extensively with trumpeter Don Cherry from 1963 to 1966. Influenced by John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, and Pharoah Sanders, he developed a warm, gritty tone, recording Complete Communion and Symphony for Improvisors with Cherry. His debut as leader In Search of The Mystery came in 1967, followed by work with Dollar Brand (1968), Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra (1969), and Carla Bley's Escalator Over The Hill (1971). From 1969 he recorded for Flying Dutchman, releasing The Third World (1969), El Pampero (1971), and Fenix (1971), combining free jazz with Latin rhythms. In 1972 he composed the music for Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris. He signed with Impulse Records, releasing four "Chapter" albums exploring South American folk and traditional sounds, then moved to A&M Records in 1976, recording Caliente (1976) and Ruby, Ruby in soul-jazz settings. He died in 2016 in New York City, aged 83.