Customer Reviews

Eternal Rhythm

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This disc is common in Japan, though a limited edition has come out done in a mini-sized "lp"-style cover, which might be what's being sold here (sorry, I dunno!). It's a terrific recording, in any event. Recorded live in Berlin in 1968, the lineup consists largely of European musicians (Arild Andersen, Joachim Kuhn, Karl Berger, Bernt Rosengren, and others); the only really familiar name featured is Sonny Sharrock, who, as far as I know, is not on record anywhere else with Cherry. Cherry can be heard here incorporating gamelans, prepared piano, gongs, varied flutes and bells, and other at-that-time "unusual" instruments into the composition, which is a huge, at times VERY free, very intoxicating work (and also features saxophones, trumpets, drums, and other conventional jazz instruments, in case that isn't clear). It's still tied more to his free jazz work than the gorgeous multicultural textures of BROWN RICE (which I personally consider the highlight of Cherry's career as a composer and innovator, though it's barely even a jazz album), but the movement from the one to the other is clearly underway and visible on this recording. It's is an intense experience, so much so that it's tempting to whip out references to "Dionysian rapture" and so forth. If free jazz is a transcendent experience for you, this album will satisfy immensely. Cherry's in good form as a player here, too; he even plays two flutes at once on one cut, one from Bengal, the other made of bamboo -- a fascinating moment. Oh, and by the way -- it's all basically one piece of music, though reflecting the LP division is divided into two movements.

Eternal Rhythm is to world music what On the Corner is to fusion. In other words, its a mind blowing experience that redefines the genre. Every instrument from gamelan to flute to yup that's Sonny Sharrock on guitar is explored here. If you are looking for peaceful world music look elsewhere. However, if you are in the mood for a challenging listen that will take you to other places and redefine what jazz means to you get ready. This is by far Don Cherry's best album. The reissue was well worth the wait.

Don Cherry helped create free jazz and then transended it. After Coltrane died in 1967, the air went out of the baloon. Ornette Coleman moved, slowly, to a funk avant jazz, and Archie Shepp moved, masterfully, all over the map.

Many musicians went to Europe to work with new musicans, unable to find work in America. Don Cherry was one of them, and recorded Enternal Rhythm in 1969.

This album has no propulsion, and good for Cherry. It features trumpet and guitar and light percussion. This is really not about playing "inside or outside" the changes. The music-two long peices-is otherworldly, floating above the chimes and bells that create its bottom, which shimmer in the atmosphere. What matters is appreciating the sounds made in the musical greenhouse these musicans create.

At first the title seems ironic, but think further, and that is the point: This rhythm is implied. You can't tap your foot to it, but these musicans are such masters, their sounds create the pulse if not the beat. This is almost ambient music with no electronics, though it does have more weight and texture than most ambient music.

But what counts is the excellent playing and atmosphereic beauty of the music. That is impossible to discribe but would be a crime to miss.

This album, along with "Mu", is a transitional album between his classic Blue Note recordings from the mid-1960s and his later more world-music-oriented albums of the 1970s and 1980s. Cherry plays a variety of instruments throughout the piece (divided into parts one and two here to reflect the original lp), including his pocket trumpet, bamboo flute, and gamelan. Sonny Sharrock appears on this performance, but his guitar seems pretty low in the mix. Overall, this is raging, passionate late-1960s free jazz that will satisfy fans of this genre and fans of Cherry's mid-1960s recordings as a leader. My only complaint would be the price of this recording, though given the contents of this cd, that's a pretty minor complaint.