Gato Barbieri

Leandro 'Gato' Barbieri was an Argentinian jazz saxophonist who recorded more than 35 albums between 1967 and 1982 and straddled jazz genres from smooth jazz to experimental free jazz.

Born in Rosario in 1932, Barbieri moved to Buenos Aires in 1947 where he became part of Lalo Schifrin's orchestra. As the 1950s unfolded, Barbieri started his own band and moved between Rome, Buenos Aires and New York.

It was in New York in the 1960s that he teamed up with Don Cherry while both were under the influence of the new free jazz movement, and Cherry was playing in Ornette Coleman's band. Passing through that phase of jazz, Barbieri returned to his Latin American origins releasing Latin-influenced LPs, and also proving the music for Bernardo Bertolucci's 1972 cult movie, 'Last Tango in Paris'.

The 1980s saw him in dispute with his record label, and he concentrated on playing live. By the late 1990s, Barbieri was diagnosed with the degenerative disease that would eventually kill him in 2016.