Gato Barbieri - Qui Pasa (1997)

Gato Barbieri's first recording in a decade finds his distinctive (and always passionate) tenor tone still mostly intact. However, he does little other than state the 11 melodies (which range from catchy to completely forgettable), and the backing is quite anonymous, over-produced and obviously geared for potential radio airplay. In fact, if Gato's tenor were replaced by a vocalist, this would be a pop record. It is nice to have Barbieri back on the scene again, but he is capable of much better than this run-of-the-mill effort.