31 March 2020

Don Cherry's Norwegian Sextet live at NRK 1969



There seems to be somewhat of a Don Cherry revival going on in our contributions section,  spilling over to the front page, so here is another contribution which to my knowledge has not been mentioned yet. This is a recording made in the NRK (Norwgian Broadcasting Corporation) studios in October 1969. At the time Don Cherry had played concerts in and around Oslo with what was the Jan Garbarek Quartet. At the instigation of Erling Wicklund at NRK, they assembled in the NRK studies and were joined by Sidsel Paaske, better known as a painter, but here contributing vocals and jaws harp.

A piece in the magazine Ballade from 2012 entitled "Fusion in the lotus position" pointed to the integration of folk music in jazz improvisation of which Don Cherry was an important catalyst. He had worked with musicians from Turkey, Latin America and Sweden and was in Garbarek's view somewhat of a world artist. One could say that Garbarek has followed in his tracks, drawing on Norwegian tradional music as well as collaborating with Indian musicians. Sidsel Paaske, which we can hear on a couple of tunes, draws explicitly on Norwegian folk music.

The sound is low-fi, slightly cavernous. From what I know, this was probably recorded off radio with a mike and not from TV as was suggested in the info notes that came with the files. But, despite poor sound quality, this is an important historical document. I have no idea whether the master tapes still reside in the NRK archives, but as of now, this is what we have to make do with.

As an aside, the Scandinavian link continued with Neneh Cherry (DC was her uncle) and the Thing, originally conceived as a Don Cherry tribute band. Her daughter, Mabel McVey, has become a major pop artist in a very short time with the tune "Don't call me up". Good musical genes in that family!

Don Cherry: tpt, fl, vcl, pno
Jan Garbarek: ten, fl
Sidsel Paaske: vcl, jaws harp
Terje Rypdal: gtr
Arild Andersen: b
Jan Christensen: d

1. Dance Of The Dinosaurs
2. Trane Flight
3. Man On The Moon
4.
5.
6.

The track list is incomplete, so any assistance in filling in the blanks is welcomed.

Enjoy!

28 March 2020

Organic Music Theatre - Television Session Summer 1976


After Magogiallo's generous contributions of rare unreleased live by Don Cherry, here is one more very close to the RAI session with the same personnel and almost same titles.

The music if not so incredible as his early recordings show very well the musical personality of Don Cherry who was interested in the music itself before the style.

It remain me a story that composer and violinist Jean Yves Bosseur told me some years ago. He was invited to play violin by Archie Shepp but he said:
-"I'm not a jazz musician".
Then Shepp answered:
-"we won't play jazz, we will play music".

This might be a good definition for Don Cherry's music.

-Moki: Tampura, percussion, vocals
-Gianpiero Pramaggiore: guitar, flute, vocals
-Nana Vasconcelos: percussions, berimbo, vocals
-Don Cherry: trumpet, dous'n goni, flute, vocals

Summer 1976 for Italian télévision

25 March 2020

BJÖRN J:SON LiNDH - Ramadan (1971)


First album by Swedish composer, pianist and flute player. A kind of fusion with Indian ethno influences, including Bobo Stenson on electric piano, and Palle Danielsson on bass on one track.

Björn J:son Lindh - Ramadan (Metromome 1971)


Vinyl rip

23 March 2020

PYGMY UNIT - SIGNALS FROM EARTH (PRIVATE RELEASE, 1974)




A1. Coke
A2. Trees
A3. Little Flute
A4. Big Flutes
A5. Pyramid
A6. Dragonfly Dance
A7. Might Not Be On Time

B1. Where The Dreams Are Kept
B2. Clouds
B3. I'm Going Down To The River Again
B4. Or
B5. Signals From Earth


Frank Albright, flute, alto and soprano saxophone
Darrel De Vore, flute, bass, percussion, piano, voice
Marvin Kirkland, flute, percussion
Terry Wilson, percussion
John Celona, soprano saxophone, synthesizer, percussion (B1-5)
Ron Grunn, flute, bassoon (B1-5)
Jim Pepper, tenor saxophone (B1-5)

Private release - LPS-3460

LP Rip

19 March 2020

DON CHERRY with RENA RAMA - Stockholm, November 20, 1991


This superior quality recording was recently posted in Contributions section by magogiallo (thank you!) and I think it deserves to be on front page.

DON CHERRY with RENA RAMA - Jazzclub Fasching, Stockholm, November 20, 1991

Don Cherry - trumpet, melodica, vocal
Lennart Aberg - tenor and soprano sax, flute)
Bobo Stenson - piano
Anders Jormin - bass
Anders Kjellberg - drums
Bengt Berger - percussion (disc two)
Bengt "Frippe" Nordstrom - tenor sax (disc two, track 8)

Disc One:
1) Quartet Piece  (16:16)
2) Race Face  (8:53)
3) Unknown Title  (5:49)
4) Low Years  (7:09)
5) Douss'n Gouni  (2:39)
6) Unknown Title  (7:04)
7) Saturday Night Blues  (9:59)

Disc Two:
1) Unknown Title  (12:22)
2) Bemsha Swing  (7:48)
3) Unknown Title  (4:55)
4) Unknown Title  (6:54)
5) Unknown Title  (8:06)
6) Okay's Tune  (6:22)
7) Unknown Title  (3:32)
8) When Will The Blues Leave?  (14:25)

Length: 122 min
Source: radio broadcast

13 March 2020

DON CHERRY "BROTHERHOOD SUITE" (FLASH MUSIC, 1968-74)



Given the recent "flood" of Don Cherry boots in the contributions section I recalled this post which sleeps on my hd since more than a year.


Don Cherry, pocket-trumpet, bamboo flute (2,4,5), gong (3,5), piano/birdwhilstle voice (5)
Maffy Falay, trumpet (1)
Bernt Rosengren, tenor saxophone (1,2,4,5), flute/oboe/bamboo flute (5)
Tommy Koverhult, tenor saxophone (1,2,4)
Torbjörn Hultcrantz, double bass (1,2,4,5)
Leif Wennerström, drums (1,2,4,5)
Henno Tooming, piano (4)


1. A.B.F. [Don Cherry] 3:03
2. Brotherhood Suite II [Don Cherry] 11:08
3. In A Geodetic Dome [Don Cherry] 4:07
4. Pannonica / Skippy [Thelonious Monk] 11:25
5. Brotherhood Suite I [Don Cherry] 34:55


Track 1 recorded at the A.B.F. House in Stockholm, May 15, 1968.
Track 2 recorded at the Sergel Theatre in central Stockholm, August 22, 1969.
Track 3 recorded at Modern Museum in Stockholm, July 3, 1971.
Track 4 recorded at jazz-rock club "Fregatten" in Stockholm, August 26, 1974.
Track 5 recorded at the Sergel Theatre in central Stockholm, July 26, 1968.

Track 5 includes Bra Joe, composed by Dollar Brand-Abullah Ibrahim, 4:25.

Flash Music FLCD-4 (Sweden 1994)

6 March 2020

John Tchicai, Vitold Rek, Karl Berger - 2 X 2 (Taso Music Production 2001)

John Tchicai - soprano & tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, voice
Vitold Rek - double bass
Karl Berger - piano, vibraphon

1 Ramana Maharshi
2 Consumer's Blues
3 Gabissimo
4 Imaginary Drums
5 Zbigi
6 Mr. La
7 Snow, Snow, Snow
8 Rain, Rain, Rain
9 Bye, Bye Rotterdam
10 Zbigi

Tracks 1,2,5,7,9 recorded and mixed in Mainz, Germany, on June 1st 1992.
Track 8 recorded in Frankfurt, Germany, on March 5th 1991.
Tracks 3,4,6,10 recorded in Augsburg, Germany, on May 26th 2000.

Taso Music Production – TMP 505, CD

4 March 2020

GANELiN, CHEKASiN, TARASOV - Concerto Grosso (1980)


This album was reissued on CD by Lithuanian label Sonore in 1995 and later on Leo Records together with Con Anima from 1976, but both releases are our of print.

GANELiN TRiO - Concerto Grosso (Melodia 1980)

1 - Concerto Grosso part 1 (side 1) (17:29)
2 - Concerto Grosso part 2 (side 2) (17:56)

Vyacheslav Ganelin - piano, campanelli, guitar, trombone
Vladimir Chekasin - saxophones, flutes, okarina, bass clarinet, violin
Vladimir Tarasov - drums, trumpet, rabob

Recorded 1978, vinyl rip "Melodia" C60 14433-4

3 March 2020

SOFT MACHiNE LEGACY feat. KEiTH TiPPETT - Frankfurt am Main 2012-10-26


Mr. Tippett occasionaly guested with Soft Machine Legacy during past years. This radio broadcast was downloaded from Dime. I did equalisation of original files for better result. Keith plays on last 6 songs. Not his typical extravaganza, but there are bright moments.

SOFT MACHiNE LEGACY feat. KEiTH TiPPETT - 43. Deutsches Jazzfestival Frankfurt am Main, HR-Sendesaal, 2012-10-26, Germany

01 intro speech 0:29
02 The Steamer 4:44
03 In The Backroom 6:17
04 intro John Etheridge 1:28
05 Grape Hound 8:20
06 intro John Etheridge 0:17
07 Song Of Aeolus 7:33
08 intro John Etheridge 0:36
09 The Tale of Taliesin 8:07
10 intro John Etheridge 0:18
11 Facelift 12:43
12 intro John Etheridge 0:10
13 Kings And Queens 6:52
14 The Relegation Of Pluto / Transit 6:41
15 Gesolreut 7:32
16 intro John Etheridge 0:44
17 The Nodder 6:07

total time: 1:18:58

John Etheridge – guitar
Theo Travis – tenor sax, soprano sax, flute
Roy Babbington – bass guitar
John Marshall – drums
Keith Tippett - piano (9-17)