You don't have to ask what's happening on Gato Barbieri's "Que'
Pasa" cd.....Love and Passion. This is one of the sexiest cd's I've heard since Marion Meadows' "Next to You" and John Klemmer's "Touch." I can't lie....I'd never heard of this man until one day I heard the local college jazz station play "Straight Into the Sunrise" and I said to myself, who is playing that raspy, sexy saxaphone? I popped my pin off my chest, found some scratch paper and wrote the name and title track down while I was driving, and ordered it the same day. The music is absolutely beautiful. Music should be able to take you somewhere else, and Que' Pasa does just that. It is a "must get" cd. I can't wait to play it for when "the love of my life" comes by...he's gonna love it too! And you know what we'll be doing while it's playing!![.]

We have all of Gato Barbieri's CDs, and this one is #1 on my list. In general, when you listen to a whole CD, sometimes there comes a song that you want to skip over. That is not the case with this CD. All of the songs are GREAT! Out of all of the jazz CDs we own, this is definitely in the top 5 for me. Track #1,3,7 & 9 is some of the SMOOTHEST, SEXIEST JAZZ YOU'LL EVER LISTEN TO!!!

For those astute jazz listener's who may have noticed that I have convienently 'borrowed' the title of one of Gato Barbieri's previous cd's to use as the title of this review ( and no you don't win any prizes! ) congratulations! Wracking my brain for a heading to Gato's wonderful " Que Pasa " album the term Caliente ( meaning Fire ) just seemed incredibly appropriate for an album that carries not only so much heat but true passion as well! All apologies aside let explain why this disc is so powerful.

Other than the song " Europa ", to be found on a previous cd entitled " Caliente " written by Carlos Santana, I was unaware of anything by this extrodinary tenor sax player. And shame on me for that! I had listened to two tracks from " Que Pasa ", played by my local 'smooth jazz' station, and while I thought they were interesting I didn't rush out to make any quick purchases. Again...shame on me! For some odd reason I finally came to my senses the other day and picked up a copy [...] and it's rarely left my cd player since. You can call this smooth jazz ( ouch! ) if you'd like but I like to think that Gato is actually quite a bit more than that. And please, no Boney James comparisons! Be forewarned though that Gato's playing is impressively strong and full bodied. In fact the disc is recorded so loud that I found myself rushing to my cd player to turn down the volume when it started to play ( I have extremely thin walls and testy neighbors! ).

Anyway, starting off the disc with " Straight To The Sunrise " is Gato at his very best. Again, playing while holding nothing back he simply breathes fire into this song and let's the listener know what to expect for the rest of this wonderful album. " Blue Gale " is a worthy follow-up tune that is just as melodic and forceful as anything else you're likely to hear. And with some truly remarkable percussionists surrounding him it only adds to the intensity of the set. I did want to mention " Dance With Dophins " an unfortunate title to a wonderfully stirring number that may be my favorite track on the disc. The album, as a whole, does capture an almost exotic feel with pulsating rhythms, some smooth background vocals and Gato's talent for pushing each song, with some truly inspired melodies, into a different stratosphere! Fortunately, each song is distinctive from the next and no doubt you'll be asking yourself where has he been all these years? As opposed to where have 'we' been all these years!? In ending while I'm aware there is an army of smooth jazz sax players out there i.e. Dave Koz, Walter Beasley, Boney James and Steve Cole to name but a few you may want to give this aging Argentinian a listen before those other 'kids'. It's always a nice experience ( to say nothing of educational ) to hear where these other artists learned their chops from. As for me I'm still listening to Gato ( which by the way means 'cat' in Spanish ) and thinking of asking my neighbors over to join me. Que Pasa!!

It had been so long since Gato had released an album, I thought he had disappeared from the music scene. From Tropico on, Gato seemed to have lost his bearings only occasionally showing glimpses of his storied past. Now here he is again after a ten year hiatus and he's back on track. Que Pasa opens with the wonderfully smooth Straight into the Sunrise and winds up with the moving Adentro. Though I like every cut on this CD, the best are Straight Into the Sunrise, Blue Gala, and a tremendous rendition of Stevie Wonder's Cause We've Ended As Lovers which is even more powerful than Jeff Beck's standout version. I recommend this to anyone who appreciates saxophone and especially to Barbieri apostates who had given up on him. Que Pasa is a winner!

A great outing from the aging Argentinean lion. After all these years, he's still got that gorgeously full, heartbreaking tenor sound that nobody else comes close to matching. I highly recommend this record for Gato beginners, but I would also steer them to the great Flying Dutchman recordings of the early 1970s. Check out "Under Fire," "Bolivia," or "Fenix" to really hear this cat blow. And my favorite, one of the greatest live jazz concerts ever caught on tape, "El Pampero." Pampero was recorded at the Montreaux Jazz Festival in 1971 and includes some marvelous interplay between Gato, pianist Lonnie Liston Smith on Fender Rhodes, Chuck Rainey on bass, Pretty Purdie on drums, Sonny Morgan on the congas, and Brazilian wizard Nana Vasoncelas on berimbau and other exotic percussion instruments. This one cooks like nothing you've ever heard. Saludos, Gato. Do not go gently into that good night/Rage, rage against the dying of the light . . .