Don Cherry

• 4 1/2 STARS ALL MUSIC GUIDE

Not counting a couple of sessions he co-led with John Coltrane and Albert Ayler, Complete Communion was the first album Don Cherry recorded as a leader following his departure from the Ornette Coleman Quartet. It was also one of the earliest showcases for the Argentinian tenor saxophonist Gato Barbieri, who Cherry discovered during a stay in Rome. While the music on Complete Communion was still indebted to Coleman's concepts, Cherry injected enough of his own personality to begin differentiating himself as a leader. He arranged the original LP as two continuous side-long suites, each of which incorporated four different compositions and was recorded in a single take. In practice, this meant that several melodic themes popped up over the course of each side; all the musicians free-associated off of each theme, engaging in intense, abstract dialogues before moving on to the next. As the album's title suggests, every member of the group not only solos, but shares the total space selflessly.

PERSONNEL:

• DON CHERRY, cornet
• LEANDRO "GATO" BARBIERI, tenor sax
• HENRY GRIMES, bass
• EDWARD BLACKWELL, drums

Englewood Cliffs, N.J., December 24, 1965.

TRACKS:

• SIDE A: COMPLETE COMUNION
• 01. Complete Communion
• 02. And Now
• 03. Golden Heart
• 04. Remembrance

• SIDE B: ELEPHANTASY
• 01. Elephantasy
• 02. Our Feelings
• 03. Bismallah/
• 04. Wind, Sand and Stars