On March 31, 1966 Afro-Choctaw-American trumpeter
Don Cherry
performed at Copenhagen's
Cafe Montmartre
with Argentine saxophonist
Gato Barbieri
, German vibraphonist
Karl Berger
, Danish bassist
Bo Stief
and Italian drummer
Aldo Romano
. Two albums of music from this night of inspired collective improvisation were reissued by
ESP-Disk
in 2008.
Volume 2
is greatly enhanced by the lessons
Cherry
learned while working with
Albert Ayler
in 1964, and by
Barbieri
's willingness to operate in
Ayler
's realm -- tonally, texturally and tangentially. After a pleasantly mysterious handling of themes from
"Black Orpheus,"
the quintet delves into a
"Suite for Albert Ayler"
and four consecutive sets of variations on ideas by
. The Montmartre 1966 session occurred during the period when
was a
Blue Note
recording artist, and fairly bristles with elements of his albums
Complete Communion
,
Symphony for Improvisers
, and
Where Is Brooklyn?
This joyously free yet well organized modern music is to some extent an outgrowth of
's early experiences with
Ornette Coleman
but is much more directly inspired by the imaginative principles and grandly expressive behavior of
. For this reason
Live at Cafe Montmartre 1966, Vol. 2
qualifies as essential listening for all who love and revere the legacies of
and his good friend
. ~ arwulf arwulf