Mu, First and Second Parts - my introduction to his work. beautiful duos between Cherry and Ed Blackwell. cherry plays everything from his famed pocket trumpet to piano, voice and tons of flutes from around the world. to play a full album of improv with this much melody and grace is amazing. and when he sings.... mmmmmm.
Brown Rice (aka Don Cherry) - great album with mellow fusiony, almost rare groove backing. (think Lonnie Liston Smith mixed with In a Silent Way & a tad more eastern flavor). lots of spooky whispery voices all over the place.
Hear & Now - the funk album. sounds like Eddie Hazel's playing distorto guitar on a few of the tracks. this is an album for the beat-heads and the pot heads alike. think Bobby Hutcherson, CTI records, Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd, but without all the sappy almost new age or disco those guys got into.
Brotherhood Suite - one of the albums he recorded in Stockholm with the Bernt Rosengren group. tons of high-energy, free playing. in the middle of all this craziness, is "In A Geodetic Dome," a beautiful, meditative eastern sounding solo piece on trumpet. sounds almost like Sketches of Spain if all you heard was Miles. you can hear a baby crying in the background. the reason i keep this cd - not that the rest isn't good, but this is great - gives me chills when i listen to it.
Eternal Rhythm - all you Sonny Sharrock fans, he's on here too. this is a way out album, also played with the Bernt Rosengren group. Cherry plays a lot of instruments on this one, including the Gamelan(?!). there are nine players on this one, so if you're into that whole crazy, Euro free blowing sessions, search this one out.
Home Boy - this album, from 85, could be called his pop-crossover album?? many of you should know the song "I Walk" from the first Disco not Disco album. the whole album is along those lines. funky 80s disco-funk with stiff drum machines. every song has singing and there is very little trumpet playing on the whole thing. very song oriented. i think had i not already fallen in love with the "I Walk" song, i'd probably dismiss this album immediately, but i like it. very dated, but still nice.
CoDoNa, 1, 2 & 3 - Collin Walcott, Don Cherry and Nana Vasconcelos. before i discovered these albums, i thought i'd never listen to ECM. man was i wrong. in the past Cherry had hinted at his facination with other cultures' musics. he'd played tons of different instruments from around the world and used eastern scales, but here he pulls out all the stops, mixes and matches perfectly and the results are amazing. Walcott plays sitar, tabla, sanza and dulcimer while Vasconcelos plays all sorts of Brazilian percusion. their interplay is fantastic.
Charlie Haden's "Liberation Music Orchestra" & "The Ballad of the Fallen" - two very similar albums made 13 yrs apart. one on Impulse (70) and the other on ECM (83). both, arranged by Carla Bley, are orchestrated (with bits of free playing) jazz albums with Spanish Folk melodies as themes. they are both extremely beautiful and worth searching out.
Mandingo Griot Society - this is straight up west african music from 78. the band is led by Jali Foday Musa Suso playing the Kora which is a 21-string harp from Mali. the rest of the band is made up of americans all famous in their own right these days: joseph thomas, hamid drake (back when he was still calling himself Hank), and adam rudolph. there's not much trumpet on the album, but it's still cool for the completist.
Rip Rig & Panic "God" & "I am Cold" - the english post punk, jazzy funk group from the early 80s featured Don's daughter Neneh on vocals (and i believe Ari Up from the slits at one point also?). good shit.
i surprisingly don't own any Ornette that features Cherry? i'm sure there's gonna be lotsa love for the Complete Communion with Gato, but i don't own that either.
― JasonD (JasonD), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 20:14 (sixteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 20:15 (sixteen years ago) link
― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 20:21 (sixteen years ago) link
Cherry's appearance on 'Escalator Over The Hill' is one of the real highlights of that alb.
Yeah, that 'Communion' reish is terrif; I also really like the 1988 'mainstream' alb 'Art Deco', which features a tenor player called James Clay, an underrecorded Texan contemporary of Ornette's, plus the classic rhythm section of Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins.
Has anybody heard that recentish BBC concert recording?
― Andrew L (Andrew L), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 20:48 (sixteen years ago) link
― abeta, Tuesday, 8 July 2003 20:48 (sixteen years ago) link
and i always had a feeling i wouldn't like Ornette. i have no idea why, just one of those prejudices you build up from stuff you read. i'm sure if i had some, i'd totally dig it. the only Ornette record i have is "Dancing in Your Head", one of his free-funk albums, which i love with all my heart.
― JasonD (JasonD), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 20:53 (sixteen years ago) link
― scott m (mcd), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 00:14 (sixteen years ago) link
― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 01:39 (sixteen years ago) link
― JasonD (JasonD), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 01:53 (sixteen years ago) link
thanks for these threads jason. plenty to check out.
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 10:16 (sixteen years ago) link
'brown rice' might be my don cherry OPO, and i'm a big fan. the blue note trilogy is fantastic (esp. "symphony for improvisers"), and yeah, i'll second the "escalator over the hill" nod.
'eternal now' hasn't been mentioned yet, so i'll throw it out. it's cherry and the swedes in smaller ensembles, with some piano work and wooden wind instruments. it's a strong step towards the less identifiably "jazz", more uniquely "don cherry" music.
― j fail (cenotaph), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 14:02 (sixteen years ago) link
― Dadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 14:06 (sixteen years ago) link
You do owe it to yourself to listen to him with Ornette. I have a special fondness for his work on the Complete Science Fiction Sessions, there's some fire on that shit.
― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 14:59 (sixteen years ago) link
― Brian Turner (btwfmu), Thursday, 10 July 2003 12:20 (sixteen years ago) link
― j fail (cenotaph), Thursday, 10 July 2003 13:38 (sixteen years ago) link
http://users.northroute.net/~rpepper/celebs/doncherry2.jpg
wait, he plays music too, you say? THIS i gotta hear!
― Kingfish (Kingfish), Thursday, 10 July 2003 14:39 (sixteen years ago) link
― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Thursday, 10 July 2003 14:47 (sixteen years ago) link
― Kingfish (Kingfish), Thursday, 10 July 2003 14:59 (sixteen years ago) link
― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Thursday, 10 July 2003 15:04 (sixteen years ago) link
― Kingfish (Kingfish), Thursday, 10 July 2003 15:17 (sixteen years ago) link
thee t
― steve duda, Thursday, 10 July 2003 16:04 (sixteen years ago) link
― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Thursday, 10 July 2003 23:11 (sixteen years ago) link
― T. Weiss (Timmy), Friday, 11 July 2003 00:36 (sixteen years ago) link
the two sets are trios. one is cherry, his wife mocqui on tamboura (ouch) and bennik. the other is cherry, johnny diani and okay tamiz (don't ask, i don't know).
the pieces seem compositionally similar to the "eternal rhythm" and "w/ penderecki" albums but they lack the power of those big groups and also ramble on more. can you imagine mu pts. 1+2 played w/ the E.R.O. (i can't). it doesn't help that the sound uniformly sucks and the percussion is generally pretty flat.
the one bright spot is a 20 minute improv on the "si ta ra ma" vocal chant that's mostly unaccompanied cherry. well, there's a bongo, but damned if i register anything but cherry. sounds dubious, i know, though i love it love it love it.
― vahid (vahid), Friday, 11 July 2003 07:26 (sixteen years ago) link
― j fail (cenotaph), Friday, 11 July 2003 13:43 (sixteen years ago) link
― rw, Monday, 17 May 2004 15:26 (fifteen years ago) link
― rw, Thursday, 10 June 2004 18:25 (fifteen years ago) link
the albums most similar to humus are "eternal rhythm" and "eternal now" because they feature large ensembles. "orient" is similar in aim but it has a much smaller group of players. because it is a live album though it has similar energy. "mu 1+2" are also similar but it's a duo, and a studio recording, so it's much more meditative and less kinetic than "humus".
"humus" is very similar to pharoah sanders late 60s and early 70s work: "tauhid", "izipho zam", "karma" and "summun bukmun umyun" are definite must-haves. they are more focused and polished than cherry's work but similar in the blend of eastern and western motifs, and the energy playing, and the wild percussion, etc. also check out early alice coltrane (ptah the el daoud, world galaxy, universal consciousness) and maybe late john coltrane (crescent might be a good starting point). possibly even clifford thornton or archie shepp in morocco or even the jazzactuel 3cd reissue sampler box, that may be a good start.
these are similar to "humus" in overall sound but not in the way "humus" uses several different forms over the course of a composition - free playing giving way to funky stuff giving way to an eastern section or a ragtime or whatever. if i remember correctly, that is unique to "humus" in cherry's recordings. so for that angle, maybe check out the early 70s work of the art ensemble of chicago, sun ra, and charlie haden (particularly the liberation music orchestra recording mentioned above).
― vahid (vahid), Friday, 11 June 2004 09:03 (fifteen years ago) link
― vahid (vahid), Friday, 11 June 2004 09:04 (fifteen years ago) link
― rw, Friday, 11 June 2004 14:00 (fifteen years ago) link
― sundar subramanian (sundar), Friday, 11 June 2004 23:19 (fifteen years ago) link
― nickn (nickn), Friday, 11 June 2004 23:37 (fifteen years ago) link
― JaXoN (JasonD), Saturday, 12 June 2004 06:57 (fifteen years ago) link
― Andrew L (Andrew L), Saturday, 12 June 2004 06:58 (fifteen years ago) link
― JaXoN (JasonD), Saturday, 12 June 2004 06:58 (fifteen years ago) link
― JaXoN (JasonD), Saturday, 12 June 2004 06:59 (fifteen years ago) link
― Another Allnighter (sexyDancer), Friday, 1 July 2005 14:21 (fourteen years ago) link
Seeing him and his battered pocket trumpet really got me into Ornette and then Jazz in general.
― timberlog (timberlog), Friday, 1 July 2005 19:34 (fourteen years ago) link
― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Friday, 1 July 2005 21:32 (fourteen years ago) link
― Another Allnighter (sexyDancer), Friday, 1 July 2005 21:35 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.mingeringmike.com/images/lps09_20.jpg
http://www.mingeringmike.com/images/lps03_20.jpg
― The Amazing Jaxon! (jaxon), Friday, 1 July 2005 21:48 (fourteen years ago) link
― Justin Farrar (Justin Farrar), Saturday, 2 July 2005 00:13 (fourteen years ago) link
Another good'un not mentioned yet: Vibrations, possibly my favourite Albert Ayler record.
― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Saturday, 2 July 2005 10:42 (fourteen years ago) link
More?
― admrl, Friday, 20 July 2007 17:42 (twelve years ago) link
i may have mentioned this on another Don Cherry thread (or a terry riley thread), but there's a tape of the two of them playing sometime in the mid-70s that is one of the greatest things I've ever heard. it's reallyreallyreally beautiful.
― tylerw, Friday, 20 July 2007 17:55 (twelve years ago) link
I want that
― admrl, Friday, 20 July 2007 17:58 (twelve years ago) link
http://davecook.blog-city.com/don_cherry.htm
― jaxon, Friday, 20 July 2007 18:01 (twelve years ago) link
^ terry riley / don cherry
I love you
― admrl, Friday, 20 July 2007 18:01 (twelve years ago) link
Is there anything more from that session?
cos it's fucking great.
I've been told to listen to rip rig & panic by a lot of people but haven't got round to it yet.
― admrl, Tuesday, 23 October 2007 16:54 (twelve years ago) link
And the names of the bands members are right after, of course. ;)
― Alex in SF, Monday, 31 August 2009 22:46 (ten years ago) link
Someone mentioned it upthread, but El Corazon w/ Blackwell is worth seeking out! Was listening this morning, and it is a wonderful record. Kind of a travelogue -- from America to Spain to Africa and elsewhere ...
― tylerw, Monday, 23 November 2009 17:54 (ten years ago) link
haven't seen it mentioned, but Art Deco is really lovely, too
― controlled noise pollution (outdoor_miner), Monday, 23 November 2009 18:23 (ten years ago) link
cool! I actually don't know much past the early 80s. Is that a good one to start with?
― tylerw, Monday, 23 November 2009 18:24 (ten years ago) link
i think so. of his last few releases under his own name - i useda have multikulti and don't remember it; and dona nostra sort of bored me. wouldn't mind relistening to those, but i've always liked Art deco- there are a few Ornette tracks, and DC and James Clay really play well together
― controlled noise pollution (outdoor_miner), Monday, 23 November 2009 18:33 (ten years ago) link
just got the 2nd old and new dreams LP yesterday, and it starts with a KILLLLLER version of "lonely woman." i cannot stress how pleased ive been with the O&N dreams and codona records. i thought theyd just be cherry-lite one-offs, but they are great!
― 69, Monday, 23 November 2009 18:37 (ten years ago) link
yeah, it might be blasphemy, but I've been digging that O&N "Lonely Woman" more than Ornette's original ... I put it on repeat for about an hour a few months ago.
― tylerw, Monday, 23 November 2009 18:42 (ten years ago) link
i mean theyre both great teams
― 69, Monday, 23 November 2009 18:43 (ten years ago) link
Classic for giving the world Neneh.
― alex in mainhattan, Monday, 23 November 2009 18:47 (ten years ago) link
"just"
― 69, Monday, 23 November 2009 18:55 (ten years ago) link
i'm sure having Don Cherry as your second cousin would be kinda influential ...
― tylerw, Monday, 23 November 2009 18:56 (ten years ago) link
dude the tape-effects noise (i think?) at the end of "degi-degi" is definitely one of my favorite moments of recorded music
― 69, Wednesday, 9 December 2009 22:20 (ten years ago) link
another brown rice-related revive. one of my favorite favorite records, so beautiful.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Monday, 18 October 2010 03:37 (nine years ago) link
no one's mentioned New York Eye & Ear Control on this thread? Fucking all star line-up: Cherry, Ayler, Roswell Rudd, Sonny Murray ...
― sarahel, Monday, 18 October 2010 03:52 (nine years ago) link
once got into a heated convo with a disgruntled co-worker about what does or (pointedly) DOES NOT constitute "music" upon the playing of that album
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Monday, 18 October 2010 03:56 (nine years ago) link
Been loving Old & New Dreams Playing. "MOPTI" especially.
― andrew m., Monday, 18 October 2010 15:04 (nine years ago) link
picked up that cherry & latif khan thing today, on the rec of whoever compared it to brown rice. listening now, and it's glorious. simpler and much rawer in terms of production, but lovely playing and songs, def very similar in vibe. curious now to hear the holy mountain soundtrack stuff.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Tuesday, 19 October 2010 05:27 (nine years ago) link
wtf at this audience picking up on the rhythm of "humus"
― bamcquern, Wednesday, 16 March 2011 05:53 (eight years ago) link
http://i05.s2.imagehosting.ws/2010-06-05/300255/000e030f_medium.jpegHere's that album cover again, just 'cause I loved it so much and you can't see it anymore
― Myonga Vön Bontee, Thursday, 17 March 2011 01:21 (eight years ago) link
i listened to codona 3 this morning
― jaxon, Thursday, 17 March 2011 02:08 (eight years ago) link
apparently i just listened to the second side of codona 3 on 45 w/o knowing
― jaxon, Thursday, 17 March 2011 04:12 (eight years ago) link
I'm immersing myself in Hear and Now a lot in the last few weeks. The loose, funky, hippy grooves are so great. A real summer album. The Psychemagik mix re-alerted me to it. Anyway, the review hear and and the comment made me lol; http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=35491
― mmmm, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 20:57 (eight years ago) link
The album is a truly gross example of Walden's schtick: bombastic cock-rock lead guitars, lumbering bass ostinatos, leaden drums, warbling background vocals, a faddish veneer of exotic mysticism and a sub-Wagnerian taste for dramatic shifts in dynamics.
uh, sign me up. these are the reasons i love it!
― jaxon, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 21:25 (eight years ago) link
I know! Serious jazz critics, eh. A review on Amazon mocks Cherry's attire on the cover, I would love an outfit like that. ..a faddish veneer of exotic mysticism..
― mmmm, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 22:30 (eight years ago) link
paging pete sm1th
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8Ht-ySDMGA&sns=fb
― jaxon, Tuesday, 12 July 2011 20:08 (eight years ago) link
whoa wtf definitely watching this when i get back from the post office.
― 69, Wednesday, 13 July 2011 21:12 (eight years ago) link
it's hella @_@
― jaxon, Wednesday, 13 July 2011 21:26 (eight years ago) link
cool. feels like a half-baked hippie student film project, but the music is lovely.
― Little GTFO (contenderizer), Wednesday, 13 July 2011 21:38 (eight years ago) link
really digging on Relativity Suite lately. here's a more recent link to it: http://flashstrap.blogspot.com/2011/02/spiriyual-jazz-obsession-don-cherry.html
great cover art, too.
― dronestreet, Wednesday, 13 July 2011 21:41 (eight years ago) link
don is high as shit in that forest scene
― 69, Wednesday, 13 July 2011 21:57 (eight years ago) link
if you like relativity suite, and u havent already heard eternal now, YOU MUST
― 69, Wednesday, 13 July 2011 21:58 (eight years ago) link
i wish don would come back and hang w me in a chicken coop :(
― 69, Wednesday, 13 July 2011 22:04 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTUwpExgtAs&feature=player_embedded#!
― Trip Maker, Thursday, 27 October 2011 15:15 (eight years ago) link
shoothttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTUwpExgtAs
― Trip Maker, Thursday, 27 October 2011 15:17 (eight years ago) link
"hear & now" are STINKAH!"human music" are P Dick's "martian time slip""orinet" an "blue lake" is very good pleasure
― iglu ferrignu, Thursday, 27 October 2011 19:45 (eight years ago) link
welcome aboard, iglu ferrignu
― runaway (Matt P), Thursday, 27 October 2011 19:58 (eight years ago) link
blue lake IS a good pleasure. that's a good way to put it. love his vocalizing on that one.
― tylerw, Thursday, 27 October 2011 20:00 (eight years ago) link
just posted a pretty wonderful Codona live performance over here: http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/34711278070/new-light-you-could-waste-a-lot-of-time-trying-towhat a cool band.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 31 October 2012 18:29 (seven years ago) link
wow I never knew Cherry played on the Audio Leter album!! Sue Ann Harkey is the best.
http://www.discogs.com/Audio-Letter-It-Is-This-It-Is-Not-This-Neti-Neti/release/1694821
― sleeve, Friday, 10 January 2014 18:09 (five years ago) link
I saw Don Cherry live, solo, some time in the second half of the 80s. I liked it but I don't remember much a this point, except that he played lots of different instruments and it was fairly laid back.
― _Rudipherous_, Friday, 10 January 2014 18:23 (five years ago) link
does anybody have the credits to the holy mountain soundtrack?
― the late great, Monday, 28 July 2014 21:27 (five years ago) link
I have it at home somewhere in the DVD box (I only have El Topo on my ipod)
― Οὖτις, Monday, 28 July 2014 21:33 (five years ago) link
i listened to Brown Rice over the weekend and my almost-five-year-old daughter thought it was hilaaaaarious. "what is this guy doing?!"
― tylerw, Monday, 28 July 2014 21:33 (five years ago) link
Sorry if already mentioned, but leave us not forget Mr. C's input re The Bells and Between Thought and Expression. Also here (get it while you can):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2GQQ6OelDo
and here (Wiki say DC co-wrote)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvkeqXFtiKw
― dow, Monday, 28 July 2014 22:42 (five years ago) link
Also, Neneh Cherry & The Thing's The Cherry Thing is a fave of recent years; think Don would have dug it.
― dow, Monday, 28 July 2014 22:45 (five years ago) link
lol
daughter otm also great album
― Οὖτις, Monday, 28 July 2014 23:02 (five years ago) link
Really enjoying the "See You in a Minute: Memories of Don Cherry" CD (2006)by Berger Knutsson Spering trio and guests including Nenah and Eagle-Eye on a couple vocals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz9zTzbNwjo
― nicky lo-fi, Tuesday, 22 January 2019 14:02 (ten months ago) link
Begnt Berger's Bitter Funeral Beer with Cherry has been in my heavy rotation this past year, really wonderful hybrid of Eurojazz and African traditional. The concert footage transcends the LOL 80s garments (or maybe it's enhanced by it) tho' Cherry himself cuts a sharp profile:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALp9N_lS_b8
― eva logorrhea (bendy), Tuesday, 22 January 2019 14:28 (ten months ago) link
came here to post a track from the "bitter funeral beer" record ... yeah, it's good !
― budo jeru, Saturday, 16 November 2019 17:48 (four weeks ago) link
can't believed i missed picking up a copy of this 2xLP
just classic classic cherry with the dollar brand / carlos ward line-up that's also on "the third world-underground" recorded only a week apart in nov. '72
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvFRTZLyASg
"why don't you try brown rice?"
love to hear him sing
― budo jeru, Thursday, 28 November 2019 15:41 (two weeks ago) link