Don Cherry Music

Cherry,Coleman&Lacy really are in tap here.the music has alot of Depth&Feeling all the way through.that's a Strong Musical Chemistry thing going on from start to finish.a must have.

This package is very misleading. There are no cuts of Lacy, Coleman, and Cherry playing TOGETHER. Many of the cuts can be found on Ornette's TOMORROW IS THE QUESTION or Steve Lacy's EVIDENCE (with Don Cherry). Guess I should have read the fine print about this "compilation" from the Czech Republic. I admire these musicians but am giving it one star to cause would-be buyers to take a closerlook before ordering this CD.

This is a great early Cherry recording with a unique be-bop flavor. Sound quality is excellent (you can even hear Charlie Haden uncharacteristically yelp "woo" in the background as Coleman begins his solo on Lonely Woman). This one has broad appeal and shouldn't disappoint hardcore fans of Cherry or Coleman or Lacy.

The early recordings with Ornette are classics of course. During this time, Cherry made an additional recording with Steve Lacy on several Monk and Ellington tunes. Sometimes the combination of tunes in collections such as these sound awkward and ill-conceived. Not so here. What they have assemble here works very well as a single set. Great music at a budget price.

This 2-cd set was a bit of a letdown. The first disc contains only studio tracks (8 from Chicago & 2 from Hall & Oates). The second disc is a sampler of songs from various artists that Best Buy was promoting in 1998.

The product description made it seem as though the CDs contained live tracks from Chicago and Hall & Oates. This is just not the case.

Tracks on Disc 1 are:

Chicago:
Dialogue (Parts I & II)
South California Purples
Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?
Feelin' Stronger Everyday
25 Or 6 To 4
Make Me Smile
Questions 67 & 68
Old Days

Hall & Oates:
She's Gone
Abandoned Luncheonette

Artists on Disc 2 are:

Royal Crown Revue
Brian Setzer
Bio Ritmo
Blues Jumpers
Mighty Blue Kings
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Cherry Poppin' Daddies
Edwin McCain
Better Than Ezra
Gary Jules
Sonia Dada
Linda Ronstadt
Boz Scaggs
Athenaeum
Why Store
Dakota Moon

Like Eddie Fisher, Don Cherry was snowballed by the avalanche known as R&R in 1955/56. Before that, however, his was among the more pleasant vocal sounds to rule the airwaves from the end of WW II to 1955/56. After a brief stint with Jan Garber & His Orchestra, and a flirtation with the golf circuit [he was a scratch golfer], he began his solo career with Decca in 1950, scoring five hits before the end of 1951.

This collection, however, picks up his career after he moved over to Columbia, beginning with Band Of Gold, a solid # 4 Billboard Pop Top 100 hit from late 1955/early 1956 b/w Rumble Boogie, with the backing of the Ray Conniff orchestra. His second release, Wild Cherry b/w I'm Still A King To You, was a double-sided hit in April 1956, again with the backing of Conniff, going to # 29 and # 72 Top 100 respectively in May. So too was his third release, Ghost Town b/w I'll Be Around, reaching # 22 and # 78 Top 100 respectively in August, once more with Ray Conniff.

Things were looking good - that is, until names like Presley, Berry, Domino, and Little Richard took hold. Consequently his next release, Namely You from the Broadway show Li'l Abner, only made it to # 65 in October b/w If I Had My Druthers, this time with the orchestra of Savid Terry. After that there were no more hit singles with Columbia.

oving over to Monument, he re-surfaced briefly in 1966 with the # 30 Adult Contemporary hit, Married, from the Broadway hit Cabaret (b/w I Know Love), and again in 1968 on the Country charts with the old Everly Brothers hit Take A Message To Mary which made it to # 71 b/w In My Youth. And that was all she wrote.

With the exception of Married, all those hits are here, however, along with some other selections which, although not hits in the true sense of the word, are still well worth a listen. Among them I'd recommend Mr. Teardrop, The Tip Of My Fingers, There Goes My Everything, and Between Winston-Salem And Nashville, Tennessee.

I had to chuckle at the reviewer who cautions us not to confuse this Don Cherry with the jazz artist. I think anyone who knows the latter's music would recognize from the song listings that this wasn't the same person. That's like me, as a Canadian, cautioning you not to confuse this Don Cherry with the one in the loud suits who appears on Coach's Corner between periods of Hockey Night In Canada!

For old timers like me who remember the first half of the decade of the Fifties, this CD will bring back many pleasant memories.

Just a word of caution. This is not the Don Cherry of free jazz/world music fame. This is the male vocalist of the 50's and 60's. However if you like the swing movement of that era this album may be for you.

DON ALWAYS HAD A GREAT VOICE AND HIS ARRANGEMENTS WERE HIS OWN STYLE------YOU ALWAYS KNEW A DON CHERRY SONG BEFORE HE STARTED TO SING----TO THE MAN WHO SAID THIS IS NOT THE DON CHERRY,JAZZ MUSICIAN,WAS RIGHT AND THE JAZZ MUSICIAN IS NOT THE SINGER THAT DON WAS.
THIS ALBUM HAS ALOT OF MEMORIES AND I LOVE IT.

Before commenting on how great Don Cherry THE VOCALIST sounds on these sides I feel it necessary to say this;The idiots amongst us should not be allowed to write reviews...One need only read some of the reviews for this album to know EXACTLY which idiots I refer to...I mean,REALLY,Don Cherry the vocalist,and Don Cherry the jazz horn player are two very different people..One is black and the other isn't,for starters,and wouldn't someone who knew ANYTHING about the jazz artist know the difference,especially BEFORE buying an album sight unseen over the internet?Instead of writing ridiculous reviews telling us the obvious,i,e.THIS ISN'T DON CHERRY THE JAZZ ARTIST,shouldn't these bozos check out the difference FIRST?
Don Cherry the vocalist had a tremendous singing voice..Fortunately for him(and,alas,unfortunately for the rest of us,who appreciate that voice)he made enough money in his day,and invested it well,so that he could play golf rather than continue recording songs...He once boasted that he would rather play golf than sing,and had the wherewithal to do so.."Band Of Gold"was cherry's signiture song,but he was at home singing most fifties ballads,and had very little trouble interpreting some of the easy country and western music of that time period...these are the original,"hit"sides,rather than re-recordings offered on some other Don Cherry albums available and,therefore,should be your first choice when buying music by this superb singer....

This CD is NOT by the free jazz trumpeter Don Cherry. It is by the SINGER Don Cherry.....two different people.

Don Cherry is one of those artists that I admire highly and I have faith that anything he touches does result in quality music. This one is fairly different from anything else of his I own. It is heavily based upon a Native American feel with all the percussive effects one might expect for that desert coyote feel. It is effective and beautiful throughout but I really miss the trumpet playing which is present on only about 20% of this CD. Don is represented most often with vocal effects that may summon spirits but don't grab me as deeply as his horn most often does. It isn't bad at all, and it may grow on me with repeated offerings. If I had no expectations I might be willing to say this is great music for it does feel genuine and uniquely moving at many moments. But if you have his better known avant garde music in mind, you probably should look to any one of many other tremendous offerings Cherry has put out.