Don Cherry, Grimes & Blackwell: Recordings Never Released

Don Cherry (1936-1995) was of course best known for his work with Ornette Coleman, documented on a now-classic series of recordings from 1958 through 1961, and on a number of later recordings, including from an international reunion tour in 1987. But of course Cherry also made numerous memorable appearances and recordings on his own, such as with Steve Lacy, which we heard a little of once before. In that series, I shared with you a never-released Lacy trio session—that is, with just bass and drums— from late October 1961.

A month after the Lacy trio, on November 29, 1961, Cherry recorded a trio session that also was never released. Initially, the Lacy and Cherry sessions were intended for release on the same record label, and since each date is short enough to fit on one side of an LP, there has been speculation that they were intended to be combined, to make a full album of trio music. But a knowledgeable record producer believed that the intention was to make more recordings until a full album of each trio was completed, two LPs in all. In support of that idea, remember that we previously learned that a decision had been made to add Cherry to the Lacy trio and record that quartet on November 14. If the Cherry trio had been planned as one side of an LP, they probably would not have gone forward with it after deciding to do a Lacy quartet album. But, luckily for us, the Cherry trio was indeed apparently a separate project, and you will get to hear it now.

As you probably know, Cherry was best known for playing a small “pocket cornet” on Ornette’s first Atlantic recordings, even though Don played other members of the trumpet family, and later added wooden flutes and other instruments to his repertory. There is a discussion here of pocket cornets and their pros and cons, such as their tendency to play out-of-tune. But he is not playing the pocket trumpet here—trumpeter Steven Bernstein points out that he is on the standard-sized cornet here and on all of his following recordings through 1968, after which he performed again on pocket cornet, having obtained a better one.

Cherry’s playing is melodic and creative, and I think you will enjoy his work here quite a bit. And his colleagues here are Henry Grimes on bass and Ed Blackwell on drums! There are lots of connections here: Cherry had of course toured with Blackwell in Coleman’s quartet, and he would work with Grimes in Sonny Rollins’s quartet in 1962 and ‘63. (Bob Cranshaw was the bassist for gigs around New York, but Grimes went on tour with them to Europe.) And when Don recorded with saxophonist Gato Barbieri for Blue Note in 1965 and ‘66, Grimes and Blackwell were the rhythm team on most tracks. (Bassist Cameron Brown recently pointed out to me that the working personnel outside the studio, when the group played in Europe during those years, was usually Jean-Francois Jenny-Clark on bass and Aldo Romano on drums, plus Karl Berger on vibes. Cameron himself played bass for the first eleven days at the Montmartre in Copenhagen, but for “live” recordings there they were required to use at least one Danish musician, so the masterful Bo Stief was brought in on bass.)

On November 29, 1961, Don’s trio recorded three pieces. There’s a bit of a story to the first one, because, as often happens in jazz recording dates, Don did not provide a title for it, so it is listed as “unknown.” One discographer wrote that it might be an Ornette Coleman tune called “The Idiot,” but as subscriber “pb” noted, that piece was never recorded and was only mentioned by name in a printed article. So I asked saxophonist Lisa Parrott, who is knowledgeable about Ornette’s music. She told me that she has played this first tune for years as a member of Cameron Brown's group Dannie's Calypso, and that Cameron didn’t know the title either but had played it many times with Cherry. With that tip, I quickly found that it appears several times on Togetherness, the LP that Don recorded in 1965, . Unfortunately, this does not prove that the tune was written by Cherry, because each side of Togetherness is a kind of free medley, similar to those that Don had played as a member of the Sonny Rollins quartet in 1962 and ‘63. And each side is different. The album incorrectly credits all the music to Don Cherry. The medleys do include pieces by Don, but likely also some by Ornette—and they even play Jobim’s song “How Insensitive”! The track labeled “Togetherness Two, Fifth Movement” begins with the Jobim. The album title Togetherness was clearly added after the fact, just Don's way of describing the nice vibe of the whole performance.

Cherry and Barbieri made a number of recordings in 1965 and ‘66 that are well worth seeking out for many reasons, including Gato’s playing during an exploratory time in his career. The whole Togetherness album is here. And here is the theme as Don and Gato play it at 4:30 on the album (they play it again at 28:30 and 31:50):

And here is the complete first track of Don’s unreleased trio session, starting with that same theme which, as you now know, could be by Don, but could also be by Ornette:

For the second piece, Don provided the title “Harlemite.” (Saxophonist David Murray recorded a piece by that name in 1992, but it bears no resemblance to this one.) This shows off Don’s sound at its best:

The last piece is named Black Elk Speaks, after the book by John Neihardt that tells the story of an Oglala Lakota medicine man—which had, significantly, been reprinted that very year of 1961. As you may know, the book was widely acclaimed and influential, but over the years it has been criticized as being too much from the point of view of the author. Neihardt, a white man of European ancestry, had a longstanding interest in Native American culture but we would say now that he was looking at the culture as an outsider. Still, his book helped to create international interest in, and respect for, Native American culture.

Cherry’s recording should not be confused with a piece of the same name by the fine bassist, and our subscriber, Eric Revis. Eric tells me that his piece’s opening phrase was inspired by Ornette, while the rest of the song is made up of melodies that he actually set to phrases from Neihardt’s book. Revis has recorded the piece three times to date—on one of his own albums (Spotify link), on Branford Marsalis’s album Braggtown, and on an album led by pianist Orrin Evans.

Cherry’s piece, totally different, is a bass and drum vamp in C, over which he improvises. Let’s listen:

All in all, this session is a real treat from Don Cherry!

All the best,
Lewis

P.S. Thank you to Chuck Nessa, Lisa Parrott, Cheryl Pawelski, Eric Revis, and the late Michael Cuscuna for help with this essay.