Complete Communion

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Complete Communion
Complete Communion.jpg
Studio album by
Don Cherry
Released1966
RecordedDecember 24, 1965
StudioVan Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
GenreFree jazz, avant-garde jazz
Length40:14
LabelBlue Note
BST 84226
ProducerAlfred Lion
Don Cherry chronology
Complete Communion
(1966) 		Symphony for Improvisers
(1966)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic4.5/5 stars[1]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music4/5 stars[2]
MusicHound Jazz5/5[3]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz3/4 stars[4]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide5/5 stars[5]

Complete Communion is a 1966 album by American jazz composer Don Cherry, his debut as a bandleader and his first release on Blue Note Records.

Each side of the original LP were suites, side-long compositions[1] working with several themes. Critics have proposed this recording as an important innovation in the free jazz of the time, introducing "an alternative both to athematic improvising and to monothematic pieces".[6]

The tracks on Complete Communion were included in the compilation The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Don Cherry.[7]

Reception[]

In a review for AllMusic, Steve Huey wrote the music had clear origins in Cherry's time with saxophone player Ornette Coleman, but "...Cherry injected enough of his own personality to begin differentiating himself as a leader... every member of the group not only solos, but shares the total space selflessly. Bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Ed Blackwell both play extremely active roles, especially Grimes, who solos powerfully and sometimes carries the main riffs. Often the music sounds more like a conversation, as opposed to a solo with support, because the musicians make such intelligent use of space and dynamics, and wind up with a great deal of crackling, volatile interplay as a result. The leader remains recognizably himself, and his burnished tone is a nice contrast with Barbieri's fiery approach... As a whole, the project comes off remarkably well, establishing Cherry as an avant-garde force to be reckoned with in his own right."[1]

The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz commented: "The aim... is to give each member of the group an equal role in the improvising process, to let the simple thematic material roll round the ensemble in the freest way. It is, as yet, an experimental aesthetic, which accounts for the raw immediacy of the set... Barbieri, whom Cherry met during their respective Italian sojourns, is at his most unfettered and Ayler-like, vocalizing intensely through the horn and producing chordal effects when the horns are in unison. Grimes was poorly audible on the original LP but he comes through strongly on the reissues and one tends to listen to him now, knowing how extraordinary his future story was."[8]

Ekkehard Jost wrote that Complete Communion and the follow-up album Symphony for Improvisers are "among the most important LPs Don Cherry made, if not among the most important in free jazz of the Sixties."[6] According to Jost,the central idea is that "monothematic pieces are dropped and several thematic complexes are integrated into a suite whose 'movements,' while clearly identifiable thanks to their contrasted thematic material, are linked with one another."[6] Jost commented:

The first impression one gets in listening to Complete Communion is of ensemble precision achieved in an utterly unpedantic way. The transitions, for example, are relatively complicated: various musical figures are linked together; there are no schematic patterns; and yet the transitions are accomplished with astonishing ease, as though they were the most natural thing in the world. The reason is without question the rapport between Cherry and Barbieri, gained in months of playing together. Both of them know the thematic and motivic material of Communion so well that they can do what they want with it without having to agree on things first, and each can be sure that the other will immediately go along with his ideas. Added to this is a veritably somnambulistic empathy between Henry Grimes and Ed Blackwell, who not only produce a stable rhythmic foundation, but - more important - react quickly and accurately to changes in direction taken by the horns... This precision of ensembles - together with a concise disposition of thematic material and relatively short solos - gives Complete Communion a transparent structure, in which the individual formal complexes stand out sharply.[9]

Influence[]

In 2001, horn player Tom Varner released the album Second Communion (Omnitone), consisting of new arrangements of Cherry's compositions.[10][11] Varner recalled the impact of Cherry's recording: "Fall 1977, Boston. I'm a transfer student at New England Conservatory. My buddy, baritone-sax-player Jim Hartog, played me Complete Communion. It blew me away. It swung, and was abstract, focused, fresh, full of humour and life, joy and great beauty. It gave me direction in my life, as an improvising 'weird' brass-player. Thank you, Don Cherry!"[8]

In 2006, a Norwegian trio featuring Atle Nymo on saxophone, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten on bass, and Håkon M. Johansen on drums released an album titled Complete Communion (Bolage) featuring re-workings of the original tracks.[12]

In 2010, drummer Aldo Romano released Complete Communion To Don Cherry (BMG / Dreyfus) with saxophonist Géraldine Laurent, trumpeter Fabrizio Bosso, and bassist Henri Texier.[13]

Track listing[]

All compositions by Don Cherry

  1. "Complete Communion: Complete Communion/And Now/Golden Heart/Remembrance" – 20:38
  2. "Elephantasy: Elephantasy/Our Feelings/Bishmallah/Wind, Sand And Stars" – 19:36

Personnel[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Huey, Steve. Complete Communion at AllMusic. Retrieved June 12, 2012.
  2. ^ Larkin, Colin (2000). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 321. ISBN 0195313739.
  3. ^ Holtje, Steve; Lee, Nancy Ann, eds. (1998). "Don Cherry". MusicHound Jazz: The Essential Album Guide. Music Sales Group. ISBN 0825672538.
  4. ^ Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2006) [1992]. "Bill Frisell". The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (8th. ed.). New York: Penguin. pp. 464. ISBN 0-14-102327-9.
  5. ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 40. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c Jost, Ekkehard (1994). Free Jazz. Da Capo. p. 141.
  7. ^ Huey, Steve. "Don Cherry: The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Don Cherry". AllMusic. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b Morton, Brian; Cook, Richard (2010). The Penguin Jazz Guide. Penguin Books.
  9. ^ Jost, Ekkehard (1994). Free Jazz. Da Capo. pp. 146–147.
  10. ^ https://www.allaboutjazz.com/second-communion-tom-varner-omnitone-review-by-glenn-astarita.php
  11. ^ https://www.allmusic.com/album/second-communion-mw0000220623
  12. ^ "Ingebrigt Håker Flaten / Atle Nymo: Complete Communication". AllMusic. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  13. ^ "Aldo Romano: Complete Communion To Don Cherry". AllMusic. Retrieved February 23, 2021.

External links[]


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