Sep 22, 2026 12:26 PM
Hyde Park Jazz Fest on Chicago’s South Side to Present 20th Edition
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival will take place for the 20th time on the final weekend of September 2026. Beginning half…
Leandro “Gato” Barbieri (1932–2016) (Photo: DownBeat Archives)
(Photo: )Barbieri’s wife, Laura, confirmed that the cause of death was pneumonia.
Born in Argentina on Nov. 22, 1932, Barbieri began his musical career on clarinet, but switched to saxophone while still in his youth. In 1947 he moved with his family to Buenos Aires, where he apprenticed under the esteemed Argentine pianist/composer Lalo Schifrin. There he also earned the nickname “Gato” (Spanish for cat), supposedly for the way he would hurry from nightclub to nightclub between gigs.
A prolific recording artist, Barbieri’s discography spanned some 30 albums. Though his early recordings tended to emulate the free-jazz style of the era—he recorded Togetherness with Don Cherry in 1965 and Hamba Khale with Abdullah Ibrahim in 1968—he eventually developed a more lyrical Latin-jazz sound, which in turn broadened his public appeal. His 1997 release, the smooth jazz-influenced Que Pasa, reached Number 2 on the Billboard contemporary jazz charts.
Barbieri’s melodic approach to Latin jazz helped expand the genre to a wider audience, but his most far-reaching accomplishment came after he was asked to write the music for Bernado Betrolucci’s Last Tango in Paris, which starred Marlon Brando in the lead role. The soundtrack won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition in 1973. The success of the album led to a recording contract with Impulse! Records, under which the saxophonist would release his acclaimed Chapter albums, a four-part series that included appearances by bassist Ron Carter, trumpeter Randy Brecker, percussionist Chico O’Farrill and drummer Grady Tate.
Last year, Barbieri received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award from the Latin Recording Academy, given in recognition of his significant contribution to the development of Latin music in film, pop and jazz. Despite his numerous accomplishments, he remained a lifelong student of his craft.
“Every day I discover, slowly, something in me, how to play a certain thing or … something,” Barbieri said in the April 21, 1977, issue of DownBeat. “You learn every day, and I think it’s very important not to leave everything like it is, like everything is OK. Lots of people say everything is OK—I don’t think everything is OK. I think everything is to learn, to understand, and to be open—the most difficult thing is to know ourselves.”
—Brian Zimmerman
A solo concert by saxophonist Joshua Redman will close the first night of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival on Sept. 26.
Sep 22, 2026 12:26 PM
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival will take place for the 20th time on the final weekend of September 2026. Beginning half…
“It was just that suddenly … I could hear it,” Ravi Coltrane said of an epiphany he experienced during his late teens regarding his father’s music. “And it was almost like a calling, like something saying, ‘Hey, man, come on. It’s time to get serious.’ And the first time you really tune in and dial in and focus like that, it can be very life-changing.”
Sep 22, 2026 1:39 PM
Editor’s Note: Tomorrow, Sept. 23, is the 100th anniversary of John Coltrane’s birth. In honor of the tenor and…
Camille Thurman took to the stage alongside bassist Kenny Davis and drummer Tommy Campbell for a rendition of Johnny Mercer’s “I’m An Old Cowhand” that recalled Rollins’ epochal 1957 trio outing Way Out West.
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As emcee Mark Ruffin noted at the commencement of an epic tribute to saxophonist Sonny Rollins at the Cathedral of Saint…
Kurt Elling, Katherine Russell and Emmet Cohen (host on the 2027 Jazz Cruise) share a laugh at sea.
Sep 8, 2026 11:52 AM
It began in 2001. A travel agent named Anita E. Berry had been booking clients on “partial” jazz cruises that took…
Sep 17, 2026 11:00 AM
The 2027 DownBeat College Guide is an invaluable resource for music students, especially jazz students, to find a school…
