Negative Positive
Title: The Cat, before he went "smooth"!
Review: Gato's first US recordings were with leaders of the N.Y. "free jazz" avant garde in the late '60's, (Don Cherry, Carla Bley) and his use of "screech" tones in the high end of his horn's range concealed an essentially romantic conception. By "Phenix" he had gotten more comfortable in bringing Latin American concepts, and instrumentation into his music; on Phenix, he flirts with electric instruments (guitar, bass, and Fender Rhodes piano) as well.The result is intense, yet, in places, almost too "pretty" for an avant garde player. Within a couple of years, after a group of albums for Impulse in Latin America, and the "Last tango" soundtrack, he'd suddenly gone "smooth". But that was later...
Is the review positive or negative? 