Search - Codona, Collin Walcott, Don Cherry :: Codona 3

A must for Don Cherry fans

Allan MacInnis | Vancouver | 10/20/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"CODONA is, of course, Collin Walcott, Don Cherry, and Nana Vasconcelos working together; of their three releases, this ends up my favorite. All three are multiinstrumentalists of amazing range. On this outing, Walcott, a Brit known for his work, if I recall, with Oregon, plays sitar, hammered dulcimer, and tablas, Cherry -- a longtime Ornette Coleman collaborator and a composer of some truly delightful albums in his time, plays trumpet, organ, and doussn'gouni; and Vasconelos, from Brazil, I believe, does percussion and berimbau -- I'm not even sure what a berimbau IS... All three sing, at times, though in the sense of using voice as an instrument, with only one cut, "Clicky Clacky," actually having lyrics. That, however -- a full-on SONG sung by Don Cherry (whose HOMEBOY is seldom heard, such than many of his fans might not KNOW this side of his work), is a delight and a must-have for anyone who cares about the man's music. The CD is sort of a mixture of world music with jazz, if that wasn't already obvious, and has a marvelous depth of texture and warmth to it. Also variety -- it ranges from really quite trippy material to songs that sound like joyous tribal lullabies to very catchy and almost unclassifiable pieces like "Hey Da Ba Doom." Well worth buying."