Don Cherry - Don Cherry (Brown Rice)

I didn’t realise until this morning, when I sat down and played this album, that it’s not called Brown Rice. It was called Brown Rice when it was first released in 1975, but re-named for its 1977 release to Don Cherry (the issue I own). I wonder why. It’ll always be Brown Rice to me. (Say Brown Rice one more time, motherfucker–I double-dare you!)

I imagine there was some marketing department meeting at the record label where they decided that the thing holding back sales of the album, where avant-garde jazz trumpet squawks over the top of a droning mash-up of Indian, Arabic and African rhythms, was the too-arty painting on the sleeve and a too-healthfood shop name.

The gatefold sleeve has lots of information about the tune Brown Rice: a transcription of Cherry’s solo, a stereo mix diagram, a graphic score–and both a biography of Cherry and a rather florid description of the album written by Stanley Crouch–none of which are very useful.

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Old And New Dreams - Playing

Old and New Dreams was a quartet made up of former Ornette Coleman sidemen: Don Cherry, Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden and Ed Blackwell. They played a mix of Coleman’s tunes and their own work, in an attempt to keep the free jazz flag flying.

This album finds them recorded live in Austria in 1980. As with a lot of live recordings, I’m left a little cold, despite the obviously brilliant chops on show. Being there would obviously have been wonderful.

Interestingly, the front cover has a photo of a football goal. In small letters at the bottom right of the sleeve are the words, “The kicker suddenly started his run.” Turn the sleeve over and, along the bottom is written, “The goalkeeper, who was wearing a bright yellow jersey, stood absolutely still, and the penalty kicker shot the ball into his hands.” Turns out this is a quote from Austrian writer Peter Handke, describing the goalkeeper’s dilemma (which way to dive, or whether to dive at all) at a penalty kick, in his short novel from 1970, Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter, or The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick. I’d never noticed this before.

I picked this superb ECM German pressing up as part of the best ever opshop streak a few years ago. It’s got a $2.50 sticker on, but might’ve even been half price or less.

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