Saxophonist, composer for ‘ Last Tango’
NEW YORK — Latin Jazz saxophonist Leandro “Gato” Barbieri, who composed the Grammy- winning music for the steamy Marlon Brando film “Last Tango in Paris” and recorded dozens of albums over a career spanning more than seven decades, has died at age 83.
Laura Barbieri, his wife of nearly 20 years, said her husband died Saturday in a New York hospital from pneumonia. The musician recently had bypass surgery to remove a blood clot.
“Music was a mystery to Gato, and each time he played was a new experience for him, and he wanted it to be that way for his audience,” she said. “He was honored for all the years he had a chance to bring his music all around the world.”
The Argentine- born musician recorded some 35 albums between 1967 and 1982, when he stopped consistently making new records. He toured regularly and went on to record four more albums, including 1997’ s smooth jazz “Que Pasa,” which reached No. 2 on Billboard’s contempo- rary jazz charts.
Though in poor health, Mr. Barbieri, still sporting his trademark black fedora hat, had been performing monthly at the Blue Note jazz club in New York, since 2013. He last performed at the club on Nov. 23.
“He was my best friend,” Laura Barbieri said Saturday. “I’m so grateful we had these 20 years together.” She said a public memorial was being planned, but details have not been finalized.
Mr. Barbieri won a Grammy for best instrumental composition in 1973 for his music for “Last Tango In Paris,” the controversial erotic drama starring Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider.
When director Bernardo Bertolucci needed sexy music for “Last Tango,” he turned to Barbieri who was known for his distinctive, sensuous, huge- toned tenor sax sound.
“It was like a marriage between the film and the music,” said Barbieri in 1997. “Bernardo told me, ‘ I don’t want the music to be too much Hollywood or too much European, which is more intellectual. I want a median.’”