Santana and Gato Barbieri – “Europa” Live
Santana Meets Gato: Two Musical Greats!
“Europa” has been covered using a wide variety of musical instruments — from the usual electric guitar to ukelele to name a few. Gato Barbieri, a jazz tenor saxophonist from Argentina, plays alongside Carlos Santana himself in this clip. He became well-known in the sixties during the free jazz movement.
By now influenced by John Coltrane’s late recordings, as well as those from other free jazz saxophonists such as Albert Ayler and Pharoah Sanders, the warm and gritty tone, which would become his trademark sound, began to develop. In the late 1960s, he was fusing music from South America into his playing.
“Europa” became his most popular track. At that time, he was transitioning towards some pop, soul and jazz. The next famous song of his was “Ruby Ruby” which was produced by Herb Alpert. Another saxophonist, Jimmy Sommers , also made his own cover of “Europa.”
The 16 bar harmonic composition (chord progression) is that of the jazz standard “Autumn Leaves” (originally Les Feuilles Mortes”), with the first verse ending in the minor, and the last verse ending in the major.
After listening to this version, I only have one question: “How good is this?!”
Hats off to these two brilliant musicians!
