Al Gafa Quinteto - 1976 - Leblon Beach

Al Gafa Quinteto

1976

Leblon Beach

01. Barcelona

02. Abre Alas

03. Land Of The Living Dead

04. Sometime You Win, Sometime You Lose

05. Affirmation

Bass – Ben Brown

Drums – Al Foster

Guitar – Al Gafa

Piano – Kenny Barron

Percussion – Azzedin Weston

Gafa worked extensively as a session musician for recordings in the mid and late 1960s in New York. In jazz he worked in that decade with Kai Winding, Michel Legrand, Sam Donahue, Duke Pearson, and Carmen McRae. He worked with McRae until 1971, then played in the 1970s with Dizzy Gillespie, Mike Longo, and Yusef Lateef. Gafa put together his own small groups in the decade; his sidemen included Kenny Barron, Ben Brown, Al Foster, Steve LaSpina, Andy LaVerne, Dave Shapiro, and Richard Wyands. He worked with Johnny Hartman from 1978 to 1982 and in the early 1980s with Susannah McCorkle and Joe Albany, Sammy Davis Jr., Sylvia Syms, Morgana King, Shirley Horn.

I must admit that until a couple of days ago I had no idea who this cat was, saw a bootleg cd in a second hand shop close to my home, and the cover got my attention, I checked it out and some pretty well known names where backing up this dude, so I took it home and it blew me away!. The only info I have on the guy are a couple of lines I found on Wikipedia and that I copied above. If anyone has some more info on the man, please let us know!