Don Cherry Music

Or actually three, Mu 1 and 2 (already available on one CD, though) and Reese and the Smooth Ones.

Don't be a sucker, such as I, unless you don't already have Mu, which is a classic (1 anyway). I prefer Art Ensemble after Famadou joined.

One disc,45 min. approximately. Remastered sound. A portion of this music was used for an experimental film in the sixties. Without seeing the film itself,its difficult to determine the music's effectiveness in that context. What we're left with is avant-garde music which sounds very much of it's time and place. New York in the sixties was where a lot of these sounds eminated,and this is no exception. The first track is short(1:05)and serves as an introduction for whats to come. The second track is a bit over twenty minutes,which gives the players time to explore the tension and release,the quiet and harsher passages and the combined sound of their instruments. The final track,also over twenty minutes,is a bit more disjointed sounding(even for this music),with portions holding together over longer stretches of atonal dissonance. All compositions are by Albert Ayler and if you're familiar with his style of writing,these will come as no surprise. A look at the list of players tells a lot about what to expect-everyone is well-known as an "outside" player. However,Ayler doesn't play so much as a soloist,more an ensemble player. As with a lot of this music,repeated listenings are rewarded with an understanding and appreciation of totally "free" music. There is a constant intermingling of instruments as they weave in and out,slow down,and then accelerate through the compositions. If you're appreciation of music runs in this area,this is something you should pick up. Ayler,Cherry,Tchicai,Rudd,Peacock,and the great drummer Sunny Murray have recorded these fine tracks which,at the time,and in the present,should be much more well-known. In this day and age of cookie-cutter,bland music,its nice to see a label like ESP re-release this and other albums in their catalogue,as a presciption for some of what passes for jazz and music in general. This music needs to be heard and paid attention to,if for no other reason than to keep us from sinking under the weight of bland,short attention span listening.

One disc,45 min. approximately. Remastered sound. A portion of this music was used for an experimental film in the sixties. Without seeing the film itself,its difficult to determine the music's effectiveness in that context. What we're left with is avant-garde music which sounds very much of it's time and place. New York in the sixties was where a lot of these sounds eminated,and this is no exception. The first track is short(1:05)and serves as an introduction for whats to come. The second track is a bit over twenty minutes,which gives the players time to explore the tension and release,the quiet and harsher passages and the combined sound of their instruments. The final track,also over twenty minutes,is a bit more disjointed sounding(even for this music),with portions holding together over longer stretches of atonal dissonance. All compositions are by Albert Ayler and if you're familiar with his style of writing,these will come as no surprise. A look at the list of players tells a lot about what to expect-everyone is well-known as an "outside" player. However,Ayler doesn't play so much as a soloist,more an ensemble player. As with a lot of this music,repeated listenings are rewarded with an understanding and appreciation of totally "free" music. There is a constant intermingling of instruments as they weave in and out,slow down,and then accelerate through the compositions. If you're appreciation of music runs in this area,this is something you should pick up. Ayler,Cherry,Tchicai,Rudd,Peacock,and the great drummer Sunny Murray have recorded these fine tracks which,at the time,and in the present,should be much more well-known. In this day and age of cookie-cutter,bland music,its nice to see a label like ESP re-release this and other albums in their catalogue,as a presciption for some of what passes for jazz and music in general. This music needs to be heard and paid attention to,if for no other reason than to keep us from sinking under the weight of bland,short attention span listening.

One disc,45 min. approximately. Remastered sound. A portion of this music was used for an experimental film in the sixties. Without seeing the film itself,its difficult to determine the music's effectiveness in that context. What we're left with is avant-garde music which sounds very much of it's time and place. New York in the sixties was where a lot of these sounds eminated,and this is no exception. The first track is short(1:05)and serves as an introduction for whats to come. The second track is a bit over twenty minutes,which gives the players time to explore the tension and release,the quiet and harsher passages and the combined sound of their instruments. The final track,also over twenty minutes,is a bit more disjointed sounding(even for this music),with portions holding together over longer stretches of atonal dissonance. All compositions are by Albert Ayler and if you're familiar with his style of writing,these will come as no surprise. A look at the list of players tells a lot about what to expect-everyone is well-known as an "outside" player. However,Ayler doesn't play so much as a soloist,more an ensemble player. As with a lot of this music,repeated listenings are rewarded with an understanding and appreciation of totally "free" music. There is a constant intermingling of instruments as they weave in and out,slow down,and then accelerate through the compositions. If you're appreciation of music runs in this area,this is something you should pick up. Ayler,Cherry,Tchicai,Rudd,Peacock,and the great drummer Sunny Murray have recorded these fine tracks which,at the time,and in the present,should be much more well-known. In this day and age of cookie-cutter,bland music,its nice to see a label like ESP re-release this and other albums in their catalogue,as a presciption for some of what passes for jazz and music in general. This music needs to be heard and paid attention to,if for no other reason than to keep us from sinking under the weight of bland,short attention span listening.

Just picked this one up and man, it's worth every penny! This is a live gig from a jazz festival in England around 1986. The sound quality is not bad, but it's not incredible. You can, however, hear everything thats going on and enjoy the music. This was probbably one of the first gigs for this band. It's basically an Ornette style ensemble: Cherry on trumpet, the extremley underrated Carlos ward on alto and a little flute, Mark Helias on bass, and everybody's favorite master Ed Blackwell on drums augmented with Brasilian master percussionist Nana Vasconcelos. What a great band! They cover a lot of bases here with just this simple lineup, and everything is extremely funky (especially the first track). Other highlights include, Ornette's tune "Traffic", Nana's berimbau solo, and Cherry singing and playing Dousoungouni later on in the performance.
This really is one of the best single performances I've yet to hear from master Don. You get a lot (about 75 min.) of good music here and I think it's a good affordable option if you want a serious dose of Don Cherry, but aren't willing to take a chance spending serious coins on the more obscure import stuff. If you like Ornette's band, you'll love this!

The Old and New Dreams Band could be regarded as Ornette's classic quartet with Dewey Redman standing in for Ornette, or, since Redman later played with Coleman, the Ornette Coleman quintet without Ornette.

The disk starts out with an extended and compelling performance of the classic "Lonely Woman" on which bass player Charlie Haden really shines. This is followed by two African-influenced originals, "Togo" by drummer Ed Blackwell, and "Guinea" by trumpeter/pianist Don Cherry.

The disk loses steam after these first three tracks. Its back to Ornette for "Open or Close," followed by Redman's "Orbit of La-Ba" on which he wails like a muezzin on the musette. The disk concludes with Haden's "Song for the Whales," "written with respect for all species of whales, in the hope that they will soon be protected by international law." Well, Charlie got his wish fulfilled, though one can argue about just how effective the International Whaling Convention actually is. I once read somewhere that the song of the humpback whale spans eight octaves. From the way this track sounds, Mr. Haden's bass can span eight octaves, though, having demonstrated that, I am not sure how many listeners would want to hear it done repeatedly.

As another reviewer observed, with the deaths of Blackwell and Cherry, we are never going to have the opportunity to hear this band again. Only more reason to treasure their recorded output.

While the icon provided by Amazon shows the correct cover art, the song line up presented here is actually for the group's first record. Scroll up to the other listing for the CD "Old and New Dreams" to get the actual song listings. Additionally, this is a studio recording, so while it may be "live," it was not recorded in concert. The live CDs are "Playing" and the "Tribute to Blackwell."

This 1979 album contains one of the most beautiful readings of Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman" as well as original songs from the members Cherry, Haden,Redman and Blackwell. The range of music runs from free to atmospheric, with an incredible amount of interplay between the instruments. Typically ECM ish, this album, when paired with the 1980 live set "Playing" makes up some of the strongest material and intelligent soloing in the last 20 years. With the deaths of Blackwell and Cherry in the last few years, it makes Old and New Dreams a band that will be greatly missed. But with recordings like this one, their voices will heard forever. If you like Ornette, you will LOVE this recording.