Donald Eugene Cherry was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist. Beginning in the late 1950s, he had a long tenure performing in the bands of saxophonist Ornette Coleman, including on the pioneering free jazz albums The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959) and Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation (1961). Cherry also collaborated separately with musicians including John Coltrane, Charlie Haden, Sun Ra, Ed Blackwell, the New York Contemporary Five, and Albert Ayler.
Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation is an album by the jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman. It was released through Atlantic Records in September 1961: the fourth of Coleman's six albums for the label. Its title named the then-nascent free jazz movement. The recording session took place on December 21, 1960, at A&R Studios in New York City. The sole outtake from the album session, "First Take," was later released on the 1971 compilation Twins and subsequent CD reissues of Free Jazz.
Tomorrow Is the Question!, subtitled The New Music of Ornette Coleman!, is the second album by American jazz musician Ornette Coleman, originally released in 1959 by Contemporary Records. It was Coleman's last album for the label before he began a highly successful multi-album series for Atlantic Records in 1959.
Complete Communion is a 1966 album by American jazz composer Don Cherry, his debut as a bandleader and his first release on Blue Note Records.
The New York Contemporary Five was an avant-garde jazz ensemble active from the summer of 1963 to the spring of 1964. It has been described as "a particularly noteworthy group during its year of existence -- a pioneering avant-garde combo" and "a group which, despite its... short lease on life, has considerable historical significance." Author Bill Shoemaker wrote that the NYCF was "one of the more consequential ensembles of the early 1960s." John Garratt described them as "a meteor that streaked by too fast."
Archie Shepp – Bill Dixon Quartet is the debut album by saxophonist Archie Shepp and trumpeter Bill Dixon released on the Savoy label in 1962. The album features three performances by Shepp & Dixon with Don Moore and Paul Cohen and a version of Ornette Coleman's composition "Peace" with Reggie Workman and Howard McRae. The album was also rereleased in 1970 as Peace on the French BYG label, flipping the running order on side two, and on CD in 2010 as a "unauthorized European" edition on the Free Factory label, using the Savoy title but the BYG running order.
Bill Dixon 7-tette/Archie Shepp and the New York Contemporary 5 is an album released on the Savoy label originally featuring one LP side by Bill Dixon's septet and one LP side by the New York Contemporary Five featuring saxophonist Archie Shepp. The album resulted from Dixon and Shepp's contractual obligations to provide Savoy Records with a second album after the Archie Shepp - Bill Dixon Quartet (1962) but following a professional separation.
Symphony for Improvisers is an album by American jazz trumpeter Don Cherry, released by Blue Note Records in August 1967. It features Gato Barbieri, Henry Grimes, and Ed Blackwell, all of whom appeared on Cherry's previous album Complete Communion, along with Karl Berger, Jean-François Jenny-Clark, and Pharoah Sanders. Symphony for Improvisers was recorded in 1966. The front cover photograph was taken at New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Upper West Side, New York City.
Where Is Brooklyn? is an album by Don Cherry featuring Henry Grimes, Ed Blackwell, and Pharoah Sanders recorded in 1966 and released on the Blue Note label.
Ornette! is a studio album by the alto saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman. It was released in February 1962 through Atlantic Records. The album features Scott LaFaro in place of Charlie Haden, who had left the Quartet but would work again with Coleman in the future.
Relativity Suite is a free-jazz LP by Don Cherry on Jazz Composer's Orchestra Records which was released in 1973.
A Tribute to Blackwell is a live album by jazz quartet Old and New Dreams. Recorded in 1987, it features trumpeter Don Cherry, saxophonist Dewey Redman, bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Ed Blackwell. It was released on the Italian Black Saint label.
El Corazón is an album by jazz trumpeter Don Cherry and drummer Ed Blackwell recorded in February 1982 and released on ECM later that year.
Orient is a live album by jazz/world music musician Don Cherry recorded in 1971 and released on the BYG label in Japan in 1974, originally untitled. When reissued in the UK by Affinity Records in 1980, it was issued with the title "Orient." Later reissues have continued to use the same title. In 2003, Charly Records reissued the album along with Blue Lake on the compilation Orient / Blue Lake.
Blue Lake is a live album by jazz/world musician Don Cherry recorded in 1971 and first released on the BYG label in Japan in 1974. In 2003, Charly Records reissued the album along with Orient on the compilation Orient / Blue Lake.
Ghosts is the second album release by American free jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler's quartet featuring Don Cherry, Gary Peacock and Sonny Murray recorded in Copenhagen in 1964 and first released on the Dutch Debut label then later released on the Freedom label as Vibrations.
Live at Cafe Montmartre 1966, Volumes 1, 2, and 3, is a trio of live albums by trumpeter Don Cherry. The albums were recorded in March 1966 at the Cafe Montmartre in Copenhagen, Denmark, and were released by ESP-Disk in 2007, 2008, and 2009. On the recordings, Cherry is joined by saxophonist Gato Barbieri, vibraphonist Karl Berger, bassist Bo Stief, and drummer Aldo Romano. Volume 1 is accompanied by a bonus DVD sampler featuring a variety of the label's artists.
Togetherness is a live album by trumpeter Don Cherry. It was recorded in the spring and summer of 1965 in Paris, France, and was released on LP in 1966 by Durium Records. On the album, which features a five-movement composition titled "Togetherness," Cherry is joined by saxophonist Gato Barbieri, vibraphonist Karl Berger, bassist Jean-François Jenny-Clark, and drummer Aldo Romano. In 1976, the album was reissued by Inner City Records with the title Gato Barbieri & Don Cherry.
Actions is a live album featuring debut performances of works by composer Krzysztof Penderecki and trumpeter and composer Don Cherry. It was recorded on October 17, 1971, at the Donaueschingen Festival in Donaueschingen, Germany, and was released on LP later that year by Philips. The music was performed by an ensemble called The New Eternal Rhythm Orchestra, composed of top European improvisors. In 1998, the album was reissued on CD by Transparency Records. It was remastered and reissued again in 2001 by Intuition Records.
Live at the Bracknell Jazz Festival, 1986 is a live album by trumpeter Don Cherry. It was recorded in July 1986 at the Bracknell Jazz Festival in Bracknell, England, and was released on CD in 2002 by BBC Worldwide as part of their Jazz Legends series. On the album, Cherry is joined by members of the group called Nu: saxophonist and flutist Carlos Ward, percussionist Naná Vasconcelos, bassist Mark Helias, and drummer Ed Blackwell. Ward, Vasconcelos, and Blackwell would later appear together on Cherry's 1990 album Multikulti.
