🎵 AotW AOTW: Gato Barbieri - CALIENTE! (SP-4597)

[Captain Bacardi]

Gato Barbieri
CALIENTE!
A&M SP-4597

Released 1976
Peaked at #4 on the Jazz Album charts (1976) and #75 on the Pop Album charts (1977)

Format: Vinyl/8-Track/Cassette/CD

Produced by Herb Alpert
Associate Producer: Michelle Barbieri

Songs:

• 1. Fireflies (Gato Barbieri) - 5:28
  2. Fiesta (Gato Barbieri) - 5:07
  3. Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile) (Devadip Carlos Santana) - 4:07
  4. Don't Cry Rochelle (Gato Barbieri) - 4:55
  5. Adios - Part I (Gato Barbieri) - :33
  6. I Want You (Leon Ware/Arthur Ross) - 5:53
  7. Behind The Rain (Herb Alpert) - 5:37
  8. Los Desperados (Gato Barbieri) - 6:15
  9. Adios - Part II (Gato Barbieri) - :59
  
  Arranged by Gato Barbieri
  Orchestrations Arranged & Conducted by Jay Chattaway

Musicians:
Gato Barbieri - Tenor Sax
Lenny White - Drums
Gary King - Bass
Eric Gale - Guitar
David Spinozza - Guitar
Joe Beck - Guitar
Eddy Martinez - Keyboards
Don Grolnick - Keyboards and Synthesizer
Ralph MacDonald - Percussion
Cachete Maldonado - Percussion
Mtume - Percussion
Trumpets: Marvin Stamm, Bernie Glow, Randy Brecker, Irvin Markowitz
Trombones: Wayne Andre, David Taylor, Paul Faulise
Strings: Alfred Brown, David Nadien, Charles McCracken, Theodore Israel, Matthew Raimondi, Harry Cykman, Harry Glickman, Alan Shulman, Max Ellen, Harold Kohon, Max Pollikoff, Harry Lookofsky, Paul Gershman

Recorded at A&R Studios RI, New York
Engineer: Don Hahn
Assistant Engineers: Tom Bush and Dave Smith
Mastering Engineer: Bernie Grundman, A&M Studios, Hollywood, California

Art Directions: Roland Young
Album Design: Chuck Beeson
Photography: Bill King
Fire Eater Photo: Raul Vega
Liner notes: Gato Barbieri



Capt. Bacardi

 

[Rudy]

I actually like Gato's take of "Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile)" better than Santana's own version.

 

[Dave]

Fairly good material and arrangements... Just that Barbieri is somneone I never completely got into...

Really should'a caught his appearance at a recently-opened Jazz club near me, which Gato had Three Dates at...



Dave

 

[jazzdre]

!CALIENTE! OH MY GOD!! This was the album that pretty much sealed the deal for me on my ultimate love of jazz! I had heard a bit about Gato because of his soundtrack for LAST TANGO IN PARIS, but when I saw !CALIENTE! in my friend's uncle's used record shop,and Herb's name on the credits as producer, I just HAD to get it.

Well,I DEFINITELY was NOT disappointed!!! Every song on this album is a highlight! From the fiery explosion of "Fireflies" to the Latin-jazz party jam of "Fiesta" to the sensuality of "Earth's Cry" and "I Want You" to the beautiful original version of "Behind The Rain",and the action -adventure type theme music of "Los Desperadoes",this album is a classic!

I bought this album when I was eighteen years old, and before then,I had heard Herb,Metheny,Grover,Sanborn,Joe Sample,etc.;but this album showed that jazz could be creative and artistic,not pandering, but at the same time,be commercial as well.

From what I understand,there was some behind the scenes tension during the making of this album between Herb and Gato. Herb wanted to do a lot of "punching in";meaning a lot of editing between takes, but Gato wanted to play it straight through, no editing,nothing. At first,Herb didn't like this,but ultimately came to accept Gato's decision. And also from what I understand,this heavily influenced how Herb played on his future recordings.

On a sad note:I went to a website that has links to Gato,and it said that Gato's eyesight is very bad;from what I read the last time, it's getting worse.Say a prayer for Gato that his eyesight gets better,and that we can hear more music from this great master.

 

[Captain Bacardi]

I really love this album. I had heard some of Gato's earlier work on the Impulse! label (I loved his Chapter One: Latin America album) and once I saw Herb Alpert's name as a producer I just had to pick this album up. Gato has a certain passionate quality to his playing, and many of his own tunes are incredibly melodic and romantic. But the thing I loved most on this album was some of the background stuff in the rhythm section, especially on tunes like "Behind The Rain" and "Fireflies". This was a good album to listen with headphones. There's still no better makeout song than "Europa", with Gato's gut-wrenching sax work. The string section on this song is excellent. It complimented what Gato was doing perfectly. "Fiesta" was an early favorite of mine. Lots of fire here. I thought the brief versions of "Adios" were a cool way to end each side. Overall, a very strong album. 4 stars.



Capt. Bacardi

 

[Harry]

I'm generally not very much into jazz (and saxophones in particular), but I own this album on both cassette and CD. I saw the cassette in a close-out bin for a buck and bought it, only because of the Alpert influence. Once I listened to the cassette, I realized that it was a pretty good album and bought the CD version for the collection.

It doesn't get a lot of play, but I do like it when I'm in a jazzy mood.

Harry