Don Cherry Music

I enjoyed the cornet playing of Don Cherry, although I wonder if the rest of the musician really know how to play. I just did not get this album. Improvisation has to have some discipline or it sounds like you don't know the music. I would recommend Ornette Coleman if your looking for free jazz.

In 1966, Don Cherry was finally stepping into his own as a band leader. Whereas Cherry's mentor Ornette Coleman had what many New York musicians felt was no pedigree, Cherry was a journeyman of free jazz, having spent several years with Coleman, recorded an album with John Coltrane, toured with Sonny Rollins, blew horn opposite Archie Shepp in the New York Contemporary Five, and played Europe with Albert Ayler.

Along the way, Cherry also led bands in the U.S. with a young tenor sax player named Pharoah Sanders, bassist Henry Grimes, and drummer Ed Blackwell, discovered Argentinian Gato Barbieri in Europe, laid down an album with Barbieri, Grimes, and Blackwell ("Complete Communion"), then took off back to Europe with Barbieri, where he gigged with, among others, German pianist Karl Berger and French bassist Jean-Francois Jenny-Clark. Cherry brought Jenny-Clark, Berger, and Barbieri back to the studio in New York to augment the band he'd left behind there (Sanders, Grimes, and Blackwell). The result is two suites-- "Symphony for Improvisers" and "Manhattan Cry", both released under the former title.

The first suite, "Symphony for Improvisers", feels triumphant in the way a march does, or perpaps in the way Ayler's music does, with swelling, explosive themes. Sanders plays on piccolo throughout, weaving in and out of the other the two horns and Berger (who is featured on vibes). Cherry and Berger play wonderfully, trading solos on the second movement ("Nu Creative Love"), but its Blackwell who steals the show, with his incomparable accompaniment and eventual solo space in the funky third movement and the fourth. In this last movement ("Infant Happiness") is some of Blackwell's finest playing, with a delicate solo playing against space-- Blackwell was a man who understood that even if polyrhythmic playing, space can often be as valuable unfilled as filled.

The second suite, "Manhattan Cry", is a bit more sparse in its form. This is probably most obvious as the Barbieri and Sanders are not heard together at all-- Blackwell's superb drum solo (a trend on this album) marks the point where Barbieri stops playing and Sanders starts. But throughout, there's a bit more variety of form on these pieces-- from the opening movements delicate and beautiful theme (and soloing) with a traditional form of horn, piano, bass, and drums to Sanders' searing solo on the third movement. The piece in general though is a bit less rewarding then "Symphony for Improvisers".

Its interesting that Cherry chose to include two bassists on this session as, like the tenor sax, only one bass is ever heard at a time and the two switch off during both pieces. Likewise while the roll of both Sanders and Barbieri is clear on "Symphony for Improvisers", I wonder why Cherry didn't have one of them layout altogether rather than switching horns midway through.

The reissue is remastered by Rudy Van Gelder, original engineer for the sessions. Sonically, its nearly flawless, and while the previous issue sounded awfully good too (I haven't done a side-by-side comparison), it hasn't been in print and ages and this is a welcome return. The original liner notes are included as is a new essay by Bob Blumenthal.

In the end, this material is very satisfying, and I've often felt this record, even with its odd shifts in active musicians, is the best of Cherry's Blue Note work. And while the influence of Coleman and Ayler is still pretty heavy on this, Cherry's identity is starting to come through. Its also quite interesting to hear Pharoah Sanders before he hooked up with Coltrane. For both historical and intrinsic value, this recording is recomended.

An outstanding array of musicians. Like a frame around a painting, the hard driving rhythm section and the themes (yes, there are melodies) frame the hard-driving, sometimes screaming and screeching Pharoah Sanders and--Gato Barbieri (heard on "smooth jazz" radio stations)! It's a production in which you will hear a little more each time you listen to it...isn't that what we ask for in music? Well, some of us do. I have little to add to the other excellent review, so, just buy it and share it with someone who thinks that jazz should be (ugh) "smooth!"

There is just as much emphasis on melody here as free jazz fury, though with Gato Barbieri and Pharoah Sanders playing tenor there is the passionate disonance here that one might expect, though honestly they seem to be playing with more restraint than might be expected given other recordings they played on circa 1966. Comprised of two rather long compositions (both approach 20 minutes), my first thought is that this is one of those jazz albums where everything just fits together beautifully. This album is really carried by Don Cherry's trumpet and Ed Blackwell's drumming, and both players seem to display an almost superhuman amount of propulsive energy. In addition to the tenor, Pharoah Sanders also plays the piccolo on this date, which he does with so much grace that I would hold this up to a Pharoah Sanders detractor - and there seem to be a lot of these - as an example of just how versatile and intelligent an improviser he is. Finally, Karl Berger, who mostly plays vibes here and is someone I know little about, sounds as if he's really listening to the other musicians as he compliments what they are doing with minimalist precision.

I have the same thought as one of other reviewers (Michael Stack) about questioning why there are even two bass players on here since I think they just play one at a time. With these players I expected to hear some murky two bass interaction as on Coltrane's Ole or Ayler's Live at Greenwich Village, but that doesn't happen here. Yet still, this is hardly even something to complain about since there's certainly enough happening overall to feel very enthusiastic about this album, and at least to my ears right now, it seems that the sound quality might be even better than the typically high standards for the RVG remasters; each of these improvisers - all in there prime - comes through with such sonic precision that I'm confident this is a CD I will come back to many times.

finely don cherry on decca all the great songs and the sound is terrific too.great liner notes too.what a wonderful cd..

One of the great albums in the free jazz movement, Albert Ayler's "Vibrations" finds Ayler finally reaching a pinnacle expression of his ideas. While earlier in the year, he put together two superb albums displaying his vision clearly-- "Spirits" and "Spiritual Unity", "Vibrations" is the first one where it really all comes together. Certainly sympathetic support helps the cause-- Ayler's rhythm section of mid-1964 of bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Sunny Murray was augmented by trumpeter Don Cherry.

Albert Ayler is a difficult player to for anyone to work with, simply because the force of his character is so strong-- his technique resulted in a deep, fat tone with a wide vibrato and humanistic expression. He feared no technique and was often inclined to perform in extreme upper and lower registers, harmonics, overblowing, etc. Add to that the rather insistent nature of his performance, and it was often difficult for others to stand next to him. And yet in Sunny Murray he had a drummer whose force of personality was a match for his-- Murray eschewed standard timekeeping in favor of implied rhythms (as strongly as presenting at times the feeling of a march beat without ever stating it) and providing a platform from which the other musicians could launch. For his part, Gary Peacock provided a unique voice in that he somehow struck a balance between foiling Ayler's playing and setting up a rhythmic foundation to work with. But the key to the success of this group lied in trumpeter Don Cherry.

With the other horn players Ayler worked with, regardless of instrument, including to at least some extent his brother Don, Ayler's personality established itself on their playing to such a level that their personality as a musician was often lost, or at least subsumed in part, but Cherry was a different story. Having played alongside the other incredibly strong personality in free jazz (Ornette Coleman), co-led a date with John Coltrane, and worked as a sideman with Sonny Rollins and Archie Shepp, Cherry presented with a confidence and uniqueness of personality that made him the perfect frontline partner for Ayler. When Ayler became insistent and overbearing, Cherry didn't follow suit-- he became sympathetic. When Ayler cried and yearned, Cherry gently prodded and explored his upper register with accents. And when Ayler stopped soloing and Cherry started, there was no drop in the intensity of the performance. Certianly the rest of the group noticed this as well-- Peacock plays beautifully under Cherry's solos, sometimes better than he does under Ayler, and Murray was positively inspired on these sets.

The pieces on the album are the stuff Ayler's legacy is built off of-- marches, ballads, simple structures to serve as springboards for improvisation. The album opens with a patient and bubbling theme statement of "Ghosts" (Ayler's most famous piece) and never looks back, moving through moody ruminations ("Children", "Mothers"), aggressive themes ("Vibrations") and a positively ecstatic reading of "Ghosts". Start to finish, the album is breathtaking, powerful and overwhelming. Essential listening for free jazz fans. Curious parties on Ayler should start here as well.

Though billed as a duet, really this is the third "major" album Albert Ayler recorded... As well as his third in 1964, a banner year that also included Witches and Devils and the amazing, sadly out of print Spiritual Unity. But Vibrations is its own album, and Ayler is the key

As with Spiritual Unity, Vibrations includes two versions of Ayler's theme song, "Ghosts", which is never played the same way twice. The first is an off tempo statement of the theme, while the second is a more complete excursion... especially spotlighting Cherry and bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Sonny Murray. All of the band, like Ayler, is into playing things more for emotion than continuity, but there's more to this music than just passionate cacophony...

That was Ayler's key, you see. He had the ability to come up with very straightforward New Orleans-sounding Sonny Rollins styled tunes... Then put them through the ringer. By the time the song was played, Ayler was vibrating like the Holy Ghost, and the rest of the band rattled on in the same tune-bending style. The result is a catchy song unlike anything you've ever heard, and an overall mesh of feeling that makes tracks like "Mother" and "Children" feel personal... You can hear sex, religion, anger, everything behind this saxophone. But you can also hear great tunes. Thiry four years later this album has still not received the recognition it deserves. Help be one that makes that forthcoming!