Gato Barbieri born 28 November 1932

Leandro "Gato" Barbieri (28 November 1932 – 2 April 2016) was an Argentine jazz tenor saxophonist who rose to fame during the free jazz movement in the 1960s and is known for his Latin jazz recordings of the 1970s. An eclectic and experimental composer, his influences included jazz greats Charlie Parker and John Coltrane, pop legends Marvin Gaye and Carlos Santana, and classical composers Erik Satie and Tchaikovsky. His nickname, Gato, is Spanish for "cat". Barbieri was the inspiration for the character Zoot in the fictional Muppet band Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem. 

Born in Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina, Barbieri's family included several musicians, although he did not take up an instrument until the age of 12 when he heard Charlie Parker's "Now's the Time" which encouraged him to study the clarinet. Upon moving to Buenos Aires in 1947, he continued private music lessons, picked up the alto sax, and by 1953 had become a prominent national musician through exposure in the Lalo Schifrin orchestra. 

Later in the '50s, Barbieri started leading his own groups, switching to tenor sax. After moving to Rome in 1962 with his Italian-born wife, he met Don Cherry in Paris the following year and, upon joining his group, became heavily absorbed in the jazz avant-garde. Barbieri also played with Mike Mantler's Jazz Composer's Orchestra in the late '60s. By now influenced by John Coltrane's late recordings, as well as those from other free jazz saxophonists such as Albert Ayler and Pharoah Sanders, he began to develop the warm and gritty tone with which he is associated. 

Yet after the turn of the next decade, Barbieri experienced a slow change of heart and began to reincorporate and introduce South American melodies, instruments, harmonies, textures, and rhythm patterns into his music. Albums such as the live El Pampero on Flying Dutchman and the four-part Chapter series on Impulse! -- the latter of which explored Brazilian and Afro-Cuban rhythms and textures, as well as Argentine -- brought Barbieri plenty of acclaim in the jazz world and gained him a following on American college campuses. 

However, it was a commercial accident, his sensuous theme and score for the controversial film Last Tango in Paris in 1972. The soundtrack would go on to make him an international star and earn him a Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition the following year. A contract with A&M in the U.S. led to a series of softer pop/jazz albums in the late '70s, including the brisk-selling Caliente! which included his best known song, a rendition of Carlos Santana's "Europa". That and the follow-up album, Ruby Ruby (1977) were both produced by fellow musician and label co-founder, Herb Alpert. 

                              

He returned to a more intense, rock-influenced, South American-grounded sound in 1981 with the live Gato...Para los Amigos under the aegis of producer Teo Macero, before doubling back to pop/jazz on Apasionado. Yet his profile in the U.S. was diminished later in the decade in the wake of the buttoned-down neo-bop movement. He continued to record and perform well into the 1980s, including composing the scores to films such as Firepower (1979) and Strangers Kiss (1983). 

Beset by triple-bypass surgery and bereavement over the death of his wife, Michelle, who was his closest musical confidant, Barbieri was inactive through much of the 1990s. He was aided in his recovery by Laura, a physical therapist, whom he married in 1996. He returned to action in 1997, playing with most of his impassioned intensity, if limited in ideas, at the Playboy Jazz Festival in Los Angeles. He toured regularly and went on to record four more albums, including 1997's 'Que Pasa', which reached No. 2 on Billboard's contemporary jazz charts, 'The Shadow of the Cat' (2002) and 'New York Meeting' (2010). 

As the 21st century opened, Barbieri saw a steady stream of collections and reissues of his work appear. A new album, Shadow of the Cat, appeared from Peak Records in 2002. Barbieri received a Latin Grammy lifetime achievement award in 2015. The citation credited him with covering “virtually the entire jazz landscape” in his long career and with creating “a rebellious but highly accessible musical style, combining contemporary jazz with Latin American genres and incorporating elements of instrumental pop.” 

Regardless of the idiom in which he worked, the warm-blooded Barbieri was always one of the most overtly emotional tenor sax soloists on record, occasionally driving the voltage ever higher with impulsive vocal cheerleading. Barbieri continued making monthly appearances at the Blue Note in New York until November 2015, clad in his trademark fedora, scarf and wraparound sunglasses. He died on April 2, 2016 of pneumonia after having bypass surgery to remove a blood clot in a New York City hospital at the age of 83. 

(Edited from AllMusic, Wikipedia & The Washington Post)