Don Cherry
“I first met Don in 1969 after my return from India”
Don used to come up and sit in when we played with Arbete och Fritid and we soon started playing together. In 1970 Don and Moki bought an old school in Tågarp in the south of Sweden, I spent a lot of time there with Don and his family and we played and practised a lot. On summer sundays there were concerts in the school and the audience consisted of music lovers that travelled there as well as the farmers and other locals staying in the area. The farming neighbours baked and sold coffee on the school yard.
It was amazing to see how natural the blend of really far out avant-garde, simple songs and whatever guesting musicians offered was accepted by the audience. Don really had a way to get everybody on the right track whatever the level of musicianship or professionalism.
A short video from our concert at the Jazz Jamboree in Warsaw 1973:
We did some tours in Sweden, in Europe and U.S. as well as recordings
Among the most fun tours were the workshops we did for small children in Swedish schools. In 1980 we did a European tour with a slightly big group plus actor/dancer/magician. This is from Antibes on July 26, 1980. In the group: Jim Pepper, Jane, David and Eagle-Eye Cherry, Frank Serafino, Riky Busch, Bengt Berger, Rafael Cruz and Don Cherry plus magician Abdul LaFraise and mask dancer Binoche. Its not one of the best concerts from the tour but still interesting.
Bitter Funeral Beer
Don took part in the Bitter Funeral Beer recording I did for ECM and also played with us in Frankfurt for the Live in Frankfurt album in 82 and in Bombay at the Jazz Yatra in 1984. Below are some concert photos and video from Frankfurt. More Frankfurt videos here
Here is one from a spontaneous one in Bombay. Sigge Krantz and I joined by keyboardist Joel A and drummer Ranjit from B’bay did with Don the night after our Bitter Funeral Beer Band concert in Bombay in 1984, quite awful quality really.
THE DOME 1971
In 1971 Don and his family lived in the Muséum of Modern Art in Stockholm as part of the Exhibition Utopia and Visions. Here are some photos from that time:
THE DOME 2012
In 2012 the Dome was recreated by Bengt Carling and we had a summer full of great music even though the weather was lousy, except on the opening in may. You find a lot of photos on the Bucky Dome page.
“See you in a minute”
A few years back we did an album of Don tunes, celebrating him, it was called “See you in a Minute – Memories of Don Cherry” a good-bye phrase that he used a lot. We are quite satisfied with it, do have a listen. The band was Berger Knutsson Spering with friends that included Christer Bothén, Neneh and Eagle-Eye.
Moki Cherry
At Baltimore Kissa Society you find a site with a great article about Moki Cherry and her art, especially as an integrated part of Don Cherry music world.
Other albums with Don Cherry
Live In Frankfurt 82 On Vinyl
[BS040]
Bitter Funeral Beer
[1982 ECM 1179]
Don Cherry: Organic Music Society
[1973·CAPRIKSLP44/50]
Don Cherry: Eternal Now
[1973·SONET]