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For other individuals named Don Cherry, see Don Cherry.
Don Cherry
Birth name Donald Eugene Cherry
Born November 18, 1936(1936-11-18)
Origin Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Died October 19, 1995 (aged 58)
Genre(s) Jazz, Free jazz, World fusion music
Instrument(s) trumpet
Associated acts Ornette Coleman, Paul Bley, Sonny Rollins, Naná Vasconcelos

Don (Donald Eugene) Cherry (November 18, 1936 – October 19, 1995) was an innovative African-American jazz trumpeter whose career began with a long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman, and who would go on to live and work with a wide variety of musicians in many parts of the world.

Contents

Biography

Cherry was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and raised in Los Angeles, California. After learning various brass instruments in high school, by the early 1950s he was playing with jazz musicians in Los Angeles, sometimes acting as pianist in Art Farmer's group.1 He also toured with saxophonist James Clay.2

Cherry became well known in jazz in 1958 when he performed and recorded with Ornette Coleman, first in a quintet with pianist Paul Bley and later in what became the predominantly piano-less quartet which recorded for Atlantic Records. During this period, "his lines ... gathered much of their freedom of motion from the free harmonic structures." 3

Cherry also co-led the Avant-Garde session which saw John Coltrane replacing Coleman in the Quartet. He also recorded and toured with Sonny Rollins, co-led the New York Contemporary Five in Manhattan with Archie Shepp, recorded and toured with Albert Ayler and with bandleader and composer George Russell. His first recording as a leader was Complete Communion for Blue Note Records in 1965. The band included Coleman's drummer Ed Blackwell as well as saxophonist Gato Barbieri, whom he had met while touring Europe with Ayler.

After leaving Coleman, Don Cherry eschewed the trend towards funk/fusion and continued to play a sparse jazz often in small groups and duets (many with ex-Coleman drummer Ed Blackwell) during a long sojourn in Scandinavia and other locations.

He would later appear on Coleman's 1971 LP Science Fiction, and from 1976 to 1987 would reunite with Coleman alumni Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, and Blackwell in the band Old And New Dreams 4, where his "subtlety of rhythmic expansion and contraction" was noted. 5 That band recording a total of four albums, two for ECM and two for Black Saint.

During the 1980s, he also recorded again with the original Ornette Coleman Quartet on In All Languages, as well as recording El Corazon, a duet album with Ed Blackwell.

In addition to bebop, Cherry incorporated influences of Middle Eastern, traditional African, and Indian music into his playing and from 1978 to 1982, he recorded three albums for ECM with "world jazz" group Codona, consisting of Cherry, percussionist Nana Vasconcelos and sitar and tabla player Collin Walcott.6

Other playing opportunities in his career came with Carla Bley's Escalator Over The Hill project or recordings with Lou Reed, Ian Dury, Rip Rig & Panic and Sun Ra.

Don Cherry was only 58 when he died in Málaga, Spain in 1995 due to liver failure caused by hepatitis. 7

His stepdaughters Neneh Cherry and Titiyo and his sons David Cherry and Eagle-Eye Cherry are also musicians.

Instrument

Don Cherry was closely associated with the Pocket trumpet, a smaller version of the regular trumpet. 8 Closer to a cornet, the pocket trumpet helped Cherry produce his distinct sound as well as allowing him to "smear" notes due to its idiosyncratic slotting. He often spoke about changing horns and mouthpiece sizes to constantly keep him in unfamiliar territory when playing and aiding in the avoidance of cliches.

After returning from a musical/cultural journey through Africa, Don Cherry often played a stringed instrument with a gourd body called a dousen'goune. Don also collected a variety of other African instruments on his journey, which he mastered and often played in performances & recording.

He also performed as a percussionist and pianist, often playing the pocket trumpet with one hand while playing the piano with the left.

Discography

As leader

As sideman

With Ornette Coleman

With Albert Ayler

With Others

With Codona

  • 1978: Codona, Volume 1
  • 1980: Codona, Volume 2
  • 1982: Codona, Volume 3

References

  1. ^ Jost, Ekkehard (1974). Studies in Jazz Research 4: Free Jazz. Universal Edition. pp. 134. 
  2. ^ "Don Cherry Biography". Retrieved on 2008-10-08.
  3. ^ Litweiler, John (1984). The Freedom Principle: Jazz After 1958. Da Capo. pp. 289. ISBN 0-306-80377-1. 
  4. ^ allmusic.com article on Old and New Dreams
  5. ^ Litweiler, p290
  6. ^ "Key figure in world jazz". The Scotsman. Retrieved on 2008-10-08.
  7. ^ Don Cherry
  8. ^ "Pocket Players". Retrieved on 2008-05-21.

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