Search - Don Cherry, Lennart Aberg, Bobo Stenson :: Dona Nostra

Critics have bemoaned Don Cherry's utterly unique approach to the trumpet/pocket trumpet/cornet since his arrival on the scene as part of Ornette Coleman's quartets of the late 1950s. And with his late-career foray into a relatively straight-ahead jazz quintet date on Dona Nostra, Cherry still elicited questioning about his chops. Critics wondered whether Cherry had lost his lip, prodding him with the same questions critics had fired off decades earlier. Of course Cherry hadn't lost his touch; he'd only heightened his interrogation of virtuosity, opting for singularity of phrasing over obvious flash. With pianist Bobo Stenson in this group, there is a harmonic daring that's fascinating to hear around Cherry. The tunes are austere in spots, as the ECM Records production credo would suggest--if not mandate. But they're also lyrical, sparkling in their clarity and cooled-down energy. It's Cherry unmistakably, being an irreplaceable genius. --Andrew Bartlett