Customer Reviews

Fenix

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This CD from the early 70's is unlike anything most Gato lovers are familiar with - it's way heavier. These are not top 40 pieces, nor are they the discordant and rambling wailings of late Coltrane or Gato's "Third World" album. Each cut on Fenix is unique & rhythmic. These cuts together are a tour de force of Gato's range and debth - haunting melodies with emotional force that grab you in the most hidden areas of your felt sense of musicality. Fenix is in the same genre as "Under Fire" - another early 70's masterpiece. If you listen to all of Fenix in one sitting, the last note of the last piece leaves you spent, moved - like a good session of yoga .. or other pleasant encounters. This is Gato's greatest accomplisment - and with Gato, that's saying alot!

This and "Bolivia" are my favorite Gato records. I have been listening to this one since it came out in the early 70's. It doesn't age, is a classic. Here you find the loud, untammed "gato" with a lot of drive. The sidemen are awesome: Lonnie Liston Smith, Ron Carter, Joe Beck, Lennie White, Gene Golden and Nana Vasconcelos. All tracks are great and cover a wide spectrum of Latin American stuff: Brazilian, Argentinian and Caribbean. My favorite is "Carnavalito". A must for early Gato fans.