My friend and guitar mentor, Uncle Albert, was also a close friend of Barney's, and, we used to go to see him whenever he was in town(San Francisco, late 70's)Uncle Albert had always claimed that he taught Barney to play samba and bossa style, which we were privately skeptical about--Then one day, Barney pointed Al out, and said, "This is the guy that taught me to play Bossa Novas".

Barney had a unique ability make whatever was happening in the contemporary music scene his own--he played fusion and Latin just as well as he played Be-Bop and Swing, which is to say that he was the best.