Don Cherry is one of my favorite free jazz musicians - very spiritually expressive and - especially in the late 1960's - very roots oriented. He uses a number of simple sounding instruments, like a pocket trumpet and Ed Blackwell, his only accompaniment on this album, uses percussion in the same sparse way to accent the simple nature of the music.
Taken as a whole, it is still very avant-guarde and would seem more so with more traditional instruments and more complex percussion, but here the spareness lends a light-hearted air to the album. It's alot less demanding of the listener than many free jazz recording made around this time and instead of challenging you, it draws you in. Or at least it does to me.
Later on, Cherry would learn a number of different African instruments and use them pretty frequently on his recordings, but here, its more traditional fare and it feels right at home on the BYG/Actuel label.
This copy was picked up at that haven of jazz - especially any avant-guarde and free jazz recordings - Dusty Groove. It's in fantastic shape, with a little yellowing, but is in excellent shape overall. Like many of the BYG/Actuel releases, this has been reissued on 180 gram vinyl and is definitely one of the standout releases from the Actuel years.
No comments:
Post a Comment