On March 31, 1966 Afro-Choctaw-American trumpeter
Don Cherry performed at Copenhagen's Café Montmartre with Argentine saxophonist
Gato Barbieri, German vibraphonist
Karl Berger, Danish bassist
Bo Stief and Italian drummer
Aldo Romano. Two albums of music from this night of inspired collective improvisation were reissued by ESP-Disk in 2008. Volume 2 is greatly enhanced by the lessons
Cherry learned while working with
Albert Ayler in 1964, and by
Barbieri's willingness to operate in
Ayler's realm -- tonally, texturally and tangentially. After a pleasantly mysterious handling of themes from "Black Orpheus," the quintet delves into a "Suite for Albert Ayler" and four consecutive sets of variations on ideas by
Don Cherry. The Montmartre 1966 session occurred during the period when
Cherry was a Blue Note recording artist, and fairly bristles with elements of his albums
Complete Communion,
Symphony for Improvisers, and
Where Is Brooklyn? This joyously free yet well organized modern music is to some extent an outgrowth of
Cherry's early experiences with
Ornette Coleman but is much more directly inspired by the imaginative principles and grandly expressive behavior of
Albert Ayler. For this reason Live at Café Montmartre 1966, Vol. 2 qualifies as essential listening for all who love and revere the legacies of
Albert Ayler and his good friend
Don Cherry. ~ arwulf arwulf