Gato Barbieri: master of his own beat.

• Author: Holston, Mark
• Position: Music

Even the term "living legend" seems woefully inadequate when the subject at hand is Argentina's most famed jazz artist, Leandro Barbieri. Few if any instrumentalists in recent history have cast such a lasting spell on the international music scene as the musician and composer known by his many admirers around the globe as simply "Gato."

The diminutive native of Rosario, famed for his brawny tenor saxophone sound and imaginative interpretation of romantic tango-accented themes, has guaranteed his cachet by his uncanny ability to reinvent his style to appeal to successive generations of fans and accommodate decades of evolving music styles. Best known for his pioneering forays into the heady world of experimental European free jazz in the 1960s and his sultry soundtrack for the film Last Tango in Paris, the sixty-nine-year-old musician is also widely regarded as the stylistic godfather of today's popular smooth jazz style. Through almost half a century of creating music, Gato Barbieri has played a key role in defining and extending some of the most important trends in instrumental music of our time.

His patented sound, at once searing, melancholy, and uncompromisingly romantic, is but one of his stylistic signatures. Another is his sartorial imprint. On stage, no matter how hot the spotlight, a dark jacket, broad-brimmed black fedora, and wool muffler tugging at his neck have become a personal fashion statement. The dense sunglasses that reflect the spotlight's penetrating glare also add to his mystic, but are used for a more utilitarian purpose; Barbieri is coping with the advanced stages of macular degeneration.

"I can't read anymore," he admits. "I can't do anything about it, because the retina is broken. This makes me a little sad because I've always liked to work on my instruments."

But failing eyesight has not prevented him from continuing to create compelling music, drawing upon concepts he has internalized in decades of performances, recording sessions, and collaborations with many of the Latin and jazz world's leading players.

As with many of history's most important creative artists, it would have been impossible to predict Barbieri's rise to international prominence when he began life in provincial Argentina. The clarinet was his first instrument, and he credits his mother with providing him the emotional support to begin his artist's quest.

"I feel your light embracing me as I play my music," he writes in the booklet of his new...