[A piece from last year about Christmas Eve listening. I'll be making time for Complete Communion today, along with another couple of classics set down on the 24th of December: Wayne Shorter's Speak No Evil (recorded 24/12/64) and Rachmaninoff's own recording of his Rhapsody On A Theme of Paganini (with the Philadelphia Orchestra & Leopold Stokowski - recorded 24/12/34)]
Don Cherry’s Complete Communion was recorded on Christmas Eve, 1965. By that time, Cherry had built up an impeccable list of sideman credits, having played with most of the biggest names at the freer end of late 50s/early 60s jazz. He was with Ornette Coleman for the legendary 1959/60 residency at the Five Spot club, and appeared on Coleman’s groundbreaking series of records for Atlantic, from The Shape Of Jazz To Come onwards. After that, he went on to spells with Steve Lacy, Sonny Rollins, The New York Contemporary 5 (with Archie Shepp and John Tchicai), and Albert Ayler.
In 1965, Cherry relocated to Europe. Based in Paris for a time, he formed a band, bringing together Argentinian saxophonist Leandro ‘Gato’ Barbieri, German vibraphonist/pianist Karl Berger, French bassist Jean-François Jenny-Clark (or sometimes Dane Bo Stief), and Italian drummer, Aldo Romano. Having a new, settled group gave Cherry the time and space to work up his own distinctive take on free jazz. When Blue Note offered the opportunity to record his first official session under his own name (there was an aborted session for Savoy), he took Barbieri with him to New York, and joined up with the superb rhythm team of Henry Grimes and Ed Blackwell, who Cherry knew well from the bands of Rollins and Coleman.
Complete Communion consists of two side-long tracks, each made up of a suite-like series of themes. Cherry himself controls the direction of the music, by introducing and re-introducing themes (or segments of them) when he sees fit. He clearly thought long and hard about the balance between the composed and improvised elements, trusting himself to shape the music in the moment, and trusting his players to follow. The band do a miraculous job, improvising on and around Cherry’s themes, while adapting at lightning speed to the leader’s puckish changes of direction - the adaptability of Grimes and Blackwell impresses more with each listen (Barbieri too, although his never-less-than-committed approach tends to make him heavier on his feet than the other two).
Complete Communion is a raucous, joyful experience - a big slab of music that sets the mind racing, scanning for short-lived details, and scrambling to adjust to what comes next. You’ll find free jazz freakouts and simple, catchy tunes; polyrhythmic thickets and springy 4/4 swing. You’ll hear blues, bop and funk, as well as hints of music from further afield (what is that scale in Golden Heart?) The whole thing is a wonderful, generous experience, with a flavour all its own. I’m sure no amount of praise from me will persuade some to listen past the first few minutes, but here’s one last thought: Complete Communion is also great FUN, even funny at times - a brilliant party record you’ll probably never hear at a party.
(Part 1 here Part 2 here. Plenty of second-hand CDs around, vinyl not too pricey.)
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