From: wjh@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (william.j.hery)
Subject: Re: Whateverhappenedto...Gato Barbieri?
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 03:50:39 GMT

sjg@kepler.unh.edu (Stephen J Guerra) writes:
> Let me say this about GAto Barbeiarie(or however you spell it)..

Let me say this, Mr. Guerra: rec.music.bluenote tends to be one of the more
civilezed discussions on the net. The posters here like (and dislike) a 
variety of styles, and we usually seem to be able to share diverse opinions
without trashing those musicians who's style is not to our taste. You might
try for more constructive critisism next time.

>Mr B.. First of all is not a main influence on Saxophonists today..Far from it.

And neither are most of the other sax players recorded and discussed here.
Hawk, Prez, Bird, Trane, Ornette, Ayler, maybe one or two more, are the MAIN
influences. But there are many other musicaians worth listening to seriously.
Being a main influence is not the only discrimiator in jazz. And until a
musician's music has been heard long enough to be absorbed by other musicians,
that musician won't be a main influence.

I am not particularly a fan of Gato, but I find some of his recordings in
the mid 60s with Don Cherry very good; later work that I have heard tends to
be too commercial for my taste, but that does not make him a bad musician.

>As a young saxophonist i try to stay away from a lot of the cr*p that is out there..
>And i will tell you that he is definateley a lot of that crap out there today.

And one species cr*p is another species lunch :-)
More seriously, there is alot of music out there that is not to my taste
(Kenny G, David Sanborn, Najee to name a few sax players), but that does
not make them bad musicians. I usually just stay out of discussions of
musicians that are not to my taste, unless I have something constructive
to say.

>Besides Being very over-showy, he plays with no excitement. He is not what I
>consider a top saxophonist of today or any day. Any sax player will tell you

And you only listen to the TOP sax players? As a young player, you should
listen to a lot of sax players, not just the TOP ones. If everyone always
listened to only the top players, who would listen to you?

>close to the same. People like Dexter, Coltrane, Sonny Stitt, Hank Mobley, Getz
>can be used in the same sentence with a role-model NOT Gato.

All wonderful musicians--but Ornette and Ayler are conspicuous by their
absence. Are they not to your taste? Its OK if they aren't, but that
doesn't make what they play crap.

>His latest album i believe is incredibly lame. Sure some big names are on their
>like Randy Brecker but they are not showcased. He has better musicians playing nn the pit orchestra than he is.

I don't think Randy Brecker is one of the "top trumpet players" or is a "main
influence" on trumpet players. He is a fine musician, though.

>I am appalled at this...

sound like the kind of histrionics that Gato sometimes plays through his horn

>What about Phil Woods, Charlie Parker, Red Hollaway?

Woods is certainly not a main influence. He is a fine musician who I
personally find kind of boring. But that's my taste. Bird, of course,
virtually everyone here will admit is great. I'm sorry to say I don't
know enough about Red Holloway to comment--what can you tell us about
his music?

>BRANFORD MARSALIS....I know lots of young sax players who would rather listen to 
>KENNY G than Gato...Maybe in Canada things are different...

Branford is also a talented musician who I enjoy listening to. But he
is not a main influence either, and he admits that he is not and will
not be a great musician: he recognizes the kind of total immersion in
music that would be required to develop into a major new voice, and he
admits that he is not willing/capable of doing that. (From a radio
interview about 4 years ago--he might have changed his mind.) More power to him.
I enjoy his playing (although I haven't been too thrilled with what he
has been doing on the Leno show), and I respect his decision on his
musical life. I've seen him play several times, and I like the fact that
he really enjoys his music, and when playing with musicians who are
his "seniors" (such as Dewey Redman and Ken McIntyre), he is clearly
watching them, listening to them, learning from them, appreciating
their talent, although they play in a very different style than he
does.

As for Kenny G, I don't think he himself considers his music jazz (based
on an interview with him).

I'm not sure what Canada has to do with this, other than the fact that
a poster said that he enjoyed a Gato concert in Canada.

Bill Hery
AT&T Bell Labs
201-386-2362
hery@att.COM