Don Cherry will forever be associated with his pocket trumpet. When he came to Denmark with the New York Contemporary Five in the autumn of 1963, some reviewers even wrote that he was performing on it, even though he was actually playing a cornet. And on the cover photo – taken
Welcome to a new post of the newsletter The Don Cherry Book Project. This post feature a link to a very precious work I did back in 2020/2021 together with Lawrence Kumpf: the introductory essay in the book Organic Music Societies which Brooklyn based Blank Forms published in 2021.
In this summer update, I’d like to go back 58 years in time. It was then – on 20 July 1968 – that Don Cherry recorded The Summer House Sessions in Kummelnäs, just outside of Stockholm. Together with a band that included both Swedish, European and American musicians they made a
When returning to New York in 1963 Don Cherry met an "informal organic situation" with new friends as Pharoah Sanders. Read an extract from my coming book with quotes from my unique interviews with Roswell Rudd, Sunny Murray and Don Moore. It's in Swedish and only for paying members.
Guitarist James "Blood" Ulmer (1940-2026) has passed away. Involved in the music of Ornette Coleman in the 1970s he also got involved in Don Cherry who was a big inspiration for him. Here comes extracts from an unpublished interview I did with "Blood" in 2014,
Blindfolds are fun! But usually in the end you have an answer to what you've been listening to. This time you don't. Don Cherry did a recording in Stockholm in 1963 with some unknown musicians. For years I've being searching for answers, but without
Bengt "Beche" Berger är död. En mästare är borta. Det är så oerhört sorgligt. Mest naturligtvis för sambon Ann Petrén och hans nära och kära, men också för så väldigt många fler. Han hade enorm betydelse för svenskt musikliv och spåren efter honom har lämnats till oss som
It's time again for the newsletter The Don Cherry Book Project. I welcome new subscribers and say hello to those who have been around for a while. In recent weeks I have done several interesting interviews with Neneh Cherry. We have talked about the tour with The Slits
Forty-eight years ago today, the film Det är inte min musik (It's not my music) was shown for the first time on Swedish television. It is a wonderful film made by the filmmaker Urban Lasson. Through a geographical lens, he captures Don Cherry both in the old
This time we’re venturing a little beyond Don Cherry. It’s about a Danish radio recording with Cecil Taylor and Albert Ayler that never came to fruition. It was the day when everything went wrong, as radio producer and tennis player Torben Ulrich once told me. Welcome as a paid-member to read.
In 1965, Don Cherry recorded Togetherness in Paris. Two sessions were held, and the album was released by the Italian label Durium the following year. With the help of a found 8-inch vinyl (!), I’ll attempt in this post to unravel some of the mystery that has always surrounded
At the later part of 1976. That's where I've been lately. My mind has travelled to Italy, New York City, to Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and California. Just to follow the magic whereabouts of Don Cherry, trying to write his story. Quite fascinating that you