Hamba Khale!

In the late ‘60s, avant-garde jazz was going international, and Gato Barbieri was a key connecting force. After recording with Don Cherry and as a leader in both New York and Europe, the Argentine saxophonist worked in Europe with the South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim (f.k.a. Dollar Brand), his partner on this strange and enthralling 1968 duo album, also released at various points under the titles Confluence and Alone Together. The first and longest piece, Ibrahim’s “The Aloe and the Wild Rose” — based on a poem by the South African writer Adam Small — is an ominous rubato ballad that winds its way gradually to a somber theme statement. Ibrahim doubles on cello, and at various points, Barbieri uncorks his patented abrasive squeal, to chilling effect. The pianist’s “Hamba Khale” is the opposite in every way, a brief melodic fanfare with no improvising, while Side Two features two Barbieri originals: “To Elsa” — dedicated to the Italian writer Elsa Morante, and featuring each musician playing unaccompanied for half the track — and “81st Street,” where the saxophonist cuts loose over an entrancing 9/4 piano vamp. “I do not scream for the reasons Pharoah Sanders screams,” Barbieri says in the liner notes to one edition of the LP, and as this album demonstrates, his approach to the outer limits of jazz saxophone was entirely his own.