In Search Of The Mystery

After recording several excellent mid-‘60s albums with Don Cherry that favored a melodic and almost playful take on free jazz — including the Blue Note classics Complete Communion and Symphony for Improvisers — Argentine saxophonist Gato Barbieri blasted off into deep space on his first album as a leader, a challenging but rewarding listen that upholds the uncompromising spirit of its label, ESP-Disk’. The four selections on 1967’s In Search of the Mystery Peace are forbidding textural workouts, marked by the rough drive of bassist Norris Jones (a.k.a. Sirone) and drummer Bobby Kapp, a rhythm team that also recorded with saxophonist Marion Brown and pianist Dave Burrell around this time. Aside from the leader’s stream of part-forlorn, part-searing phrases, the record’s most memorable feature is the eerie arco work of the under-recorded Cuban cellist Calo Scott.