Don Cherry Music

This is an unmatched piece of music. These artists worked and played, each bringing out qualities in the others and produced an experience both personal and profound. I listen to it a work, at home, travelling and never tire of it.

I bought this CD strictly to further critique the work of Don Cherry. But I also came away with much respect for his band mates as well. The first time I saw Don Cherry was on a public access channel. He had his entire family on stage playing music with him (minus Ne'Nah Cherry the rapper); it was probably the best jam session of that nature I have ever seen. His whole family is blessed with instrumental talents. I saw one of Don Cherry's last performances at the Village Vanguard, before his transition to the next realm (RIP). He played mostly natural instruments, that which I can't recall the name of (exotic) stringed, an instrument designed out of the natural habitat. And of course his pocket trumpet. For those of you who have seen Don Cherry live can attest to the fact sometime during the show, he appears to have an outer body experience. His eyes roll to the back of his head, all you see is the white part, man, he got deep in person. That night at the Vanguard watching Don Cherry remains my best live Jazz experience. This album could be used to cleanse your Soul, through natural sounds. This CD is a credit too the liberal art of music.

This CD makes for a great mood. Candlelights, burning incence, perhaps even massage oil! Ok. for the first couple of tracks anyway. For the rest of the tracks and even the whole CD, I'd suggest: Cooking something exotic (to go with all the funny instruments), be loose and eat the food sitting on cushions in the living room with some friends. Last, but not least, try to see the humour in the music. I love it!

I heard "Malinye" as the opening and closing piece of music for the long-forgotten 1984 PBS documentary, "America and Lewis Hine", about the photographer who documented abuses of child labor and labor in general in the early part of the 20th century, and who, a bit later in life, was the official photographer for the construction of the Empire State Building. I was immediately struck by the unusual instrumentation - accordion, tympani, tambourine, trumpet.

I had rented this documentary on VHS from a great off-the-wall rental store, Premiere Video, when I was living in Dallas a few years ago, and remember being struck by this music. I now have Dish Network, which provides the Documentary Channel on its basic package. They recently aired this documentary and I was reminded of "Malinye". So this may be the weakest of the "Cadona" releases in some opinions, but all I know is that it is the one that contains this strange piece of music known as "Malinye".

Hi. If you want to know about the gorgeous, multicultural, complex, and unique music that sitarist Walcott, Brazillian percussionist Vasconcelos, and pocket trumpet/ doussn'gouni legend Don Cherry get up to on these releases, read my review of CODONA 3, and then BUY THAT DISC. If you love it, buy the first one. If you still need more, buy this one, and you will be glad. Don't start here, though. For no reasons I can give, I always considered this the weakest of the 3 CDs. Been awhile since I heard it, though, but I'd even rank Walcott's GRAZING DREAMS above it, tho' it lacks Vasconcelos. Entirely a subjective thing, but, well, there it is.

I actually disagree with the previous comments slightly. This was the first Codona CD I have heard, and I much prefer it to Codona 3. It seems earthier, more delicate...extremely gorgeous, but still "out" enough to maintain interest (i.e. the jagged sporadic running lines Cherry lays over the mellow grooves...somehow all out and completely restrained). When i first heard this album, I listened through it twice in a row, and for days afterwards. I have yet to hear Codona 1, but I hope to soon. As of now, I STILL can't get enough of this disc, and it's been a while since I first heard it. Enjoy...

CODONA is, of course, Collin Walcott, Don Cherry, and Nana Vasconcelos working together; of their three releases, this ends up my favorite. All three are multiinstrumentalists of amazing range. On this outing, Walcott, a Brit known for his work, if I recall, with Oregon, plays sitar, hammered dulcimer, and tablas, Cherry -- a longtime Ornette Coleman collaborator and a composer of some truly delightful albums in his time, plays trumpet, organ, and doussn'gouni; and Vasconelos, from Brazil, I believe, does percussion and berimbau -- I'm not even sure what a berimbau IS... All three sing, at times, though in the sense of using voice as an instrument, with only one cut, "Clicky Clacky," actually having lyrics. That, however -- a full-on SONG sung by Don Cherry (whose HOMEBOY is seldom heard, such than many of his fans might not KNOW this side of his work), is a delight and a must-have for anyone who cares about the man's music. The CD is sort of a mixture of world music with jazz, if that wasn't already obvious, and has a marvelous depth of texture and warmth to it. Also variety -- it ranges from really quite trippy material to songs that sound like joyous tribal lullabies to very catchy and almost unclassifiable pieces like "Hey Da Ba Doom." Well worth buying.

Seems like people are falling over themselves to praise this disc. I feel duty bound to register, as someone who ADORES much of Cherry's output thru the 70's and 80's, that this album, which, I grant you, I haven't heard for awhile, held very little interest for me. Yeah, Gato had some good free jazz moments, even doing some stuff on ESPdisk affiliates, and does some strong playing here, but as far as I'm concerned, after leaving Ornette, Cherry spent several years trapped in the role of free jazz player, putting out material that was at best was searching and tentative or at worst bordered on raucous gunk (like WHERE IS BROOKLYN?, with Pharoah Sanders doing ACENSION-style screechings all over it). That didn't change until MU, his first fully individualized post-Ornette album, as far as I'm concerned. COMPLETE COMMUNION isn't a BAD album, mind you, and it might be interesting to people whose primary concern in Cherry is via Ornette Coleman -- but, if any of you are primarily DON CHERRY FANS, I'd, frankly, skip it. It won't add a whole lot to your appreciation of his work, like, say, MU might, or even the COOL release. Yeah, yeah, it's good jazz, it's worth a spin, it just... I dunno, I couldn't CARE about it. Maybe I'm just an idjit. Felt I owed y'all the warning.

After reading many reviews of this session, I think I expected a little wilder recording. I've read much about Gato Barbieri's 60s free playing, which is always compared to Ayler and Sanders. Unfortunately his sound seems derivitave, not whole heartedly convincing like Ayler and Sanders (as he proved his lack of commitment to this type of playing later). That said, I think he works well on this recording. The compositions are structured enough and the playing is sort of "inside/out" enough for his brand of overblowing to work. Not a masterpiece, but a solid, thoughtful avant statement that I think I'll listen to alot.

This is a very good CD comprised of two tracks approximately 20 minutes each in length. Each track is divided into several sections alternating between composed and improvised free workouts which flow together to form a suite.

There is a great variety in the many composed and improvised parts in each of the pieces. Some are boppish' others full of melodic and rhythmic abandon. Some have an almost tribal feel to them courtesy of Ed Blackwell. Still others are quiet and gentle, though never for long.

Throughout the CD Ed Blackwell plays some complex and swinging drums. He's a sympathetic and aware player who pushes and pulls at the right moments. Likewise Henry Grimes bass playing. He's a nimble player who keeps everthing moving and is dynamically aware.

Don Cherry and Gato Barbieri are playful with the composed parts and very free and lyrical with their solos. Initially I was surprised by Gato's presence in this a more free setting, but he plays fine and has a warm and strong tenor sound. Don plays exceptionally well, really stretching out and is in fine tone throughout. These guys seem to be having a lot of fun and its infectious.

Overall this CD is both complex and rewarding. The twenty minutes per song goes by quickly. Not groundbreaking but a very enjoyable set of 1960's era free jazz. One can really hear the influence of this CD and Ornettes early work in the Masada series by John Zorn.

Era ora! Dopo anni di oblio torna alla luce uno dei grandi capolavori del free jazz. Questo disco, registrato nel 1965 dal cornettista Don Cherry con il tenorsassofonista argentino Gato Barbieri ed una sezione ritmica composta da Henry Grimes al contrabbasso e Ed Blackwell alla batteria, rimane uno dei momenti più importanti di tutta la stagione free. Cherry, reduce da una lunga militanza nel quartetto di Ornette Coleman, trova in Barbieri il compagno ideale per intraprendere un dialogo brillante, fatto di suggerimenti, urli ed intrecci, condotto con una comunione d'intenti che sembra quasi telepatica. Anche la sezione ritmica, che crea una base poliritmica sulla quale i fiati tessono le loro trame, non disdegna d'intervenire nella conversazione. Nei due lunghi brani che compongono il disco, l'improvvisazione free e post-bop si contamina d'influssi etnici, regalando una musica che ancora oggi suona innovativa e non può che farci notare come molti degli attuali astri del jazz stiano in effetti ripercorrendo strade gia esplorate trentacinque anni fa.
Arthur Cravan

Apparently I read the liner notes and so I am going to give you my emotional rather than my musicologist or intellectual feelings about this album. I highly recommend it and it appeals to me with its use of quotations from blues to even hard bop variations in its cool Cherry stylings. The screeching and brilliant appregios of sound impress me.

I feel rather startled about the genius of the work in fact. There is a playfulness and religiosity in the music as well. The title song is fairly serious in fact... Complete Communion features 21 minutes of pure virtuosity in fact and it moves me that there is a strong gospel feeling about it and was rather uplifted. I connected very well to that one.

The companion piece Elephantasy is rather cool and more free flowing. There is no key signature and the fluidity is rather apparently in fact. I loved its light liltness and its utterly dancey like looping structures.

I guess that this album is close to being like abstract expressionism in musical motion just like a Jackson Pollock bringing order out of chaos by using natural methods. Free jazz sounds rather natural so natural relative to say jazz rock or jazz funk...

Cool beans and I'm outta here!

Beat Detective

Don Cherry is known for playing jazz, specially WAY out-there jazz. This really isn't jazz, though. It's more world-music type stuff.

Don Cherry mostly plays several asian (?) flutes admist a background of mid-east/asian sound scapes. I guess it might be intersting if you were into that sort of music. Or if there was any sort of theme or melody here, but there's not.

Don Cherry had several lost years between about 1965 and 1973. He toured Africa and the Near East, and returned to the U.S. (after a self-imposed exile to protest Vietnam) with startling musical depth. His 1973 recording for Horizon, "Don Cherry" (out of print) is probably his best recording. THIS record, "Cool," sounds like a relic from those lost years. It is a series of live recordings, some with Cherry playing an American Indian flute, accompanied by a busy drummer. The rest feature Cherry on piano and voice (singing African chants), accompanied by bass and drums. The audience is small and the sound quality is a bit thin. And, with banter about government efforts to poison the Indians' crops, I can't imagine where Don Cherry is coming from. If you really love Don Cherry, give this three stars. Otherwise, take a pass on this.

In the late 60's, Don Cherry's music opened up considerably. After having released several albums that were still highly influenced by his time with Ornette Coleman, he recorded MU with Ed Blackwell in Paris -- an album that I think marks a turning point in his music (see my review). He seemed to be trying to rethink jazz, stripping it to its essentials -- it's a neoprimitive jazz album, as reminiscent of tribal music as free jazz. After arriving at something so primal, Cherry began, in subsequent years, to import into his music ideas, musical traditions, instruments, and techniques from many diverse sources -- from Tibet, from Southeast Asia, from India, and from Native Indian cultures. He also began to explore his own range as a musician, singing, playing piano, gamelan, varied flutes, and taking up the doussn'gouni (which happened a little later, I think). COOL offers us cuts from this time period. There are a couple of tracks off MU; the remainder of the CD is composed of material from two very hard to find BYG's of the early 70's, ORIENT and BLUE LAKE, which have some of the most "out-there" experiments Cherry would record (and Tibetan chant DOES sound pretty "out-there" in a jazz context). These tracks are live, and ever-so-slightly murky; but the material is fascinating, and likely never again to show up on CD release. Anyone interested in Cherry or in jazz that pushes boundaries should pick this up. It fills in important gaps in what is available of Cherry's recorded output, and is fine listening, to boot.