Gato Barbieri, one of Argentina's leading jazz saxophonists, moved to Europe in the early 60s to immerse himself in the avant-garde. He made quite a name and but in the later 60s, inspired by playing in Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra, began to create a new sound inspired by the music of South America.

Signed to Flying Dutchman, Gato recorded his debut album for the label, The Third World, with the help of Liberation Orchestra members Haden and Roswell Rudd, plus pianist Lonnie Liston Smith. It was a brash statement where free jazz and Latin rhythms collide and is a breathtaking demonstration of a style that made him one of jazz's great players of the 1970s.