Don Cherry - "Mu" (First & Second Parts)

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Don Cherry - "Mu" (First & Second Parts)

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An outstanding work in the free jazz and avant-garde jazz idiom, the Mu sessions are among the most beautiful improvised duets recorded during the height of the free jazz movement. Recorded in France in 1969 and originally released on the BYG Actuel imprint, Mu remained an obscure collector's item for three decades until its reissue in two parts during the '90s. With Don Cherry on pocket trumpet, piano, Indian flute, bamboo flute, voice, bells, and percussion and Ed Blackwell on drums, percussion, and bells, the pair created one of the most telepathic improvisations on record, matched only by John Coltrane and Rashied Ali on the album Interstellar Space. From simple playful themes, Cherry develops a complex interplay with his partner that results in irrational mood changes and rhythm shifts, moving from ecstatic bird-call flurries through to fragile blues and nursery rhyme patterns. An African-inspired pulse groove follows the rapid-fire introduction, after which flurries of Cherry's pocket trumpet soar ecstatically into the air. More than three decades later, Mu is one of the few records that one can say sounds free, playful, candid, and revolutionary, an utterly arresting masterpiece that is a milestone in Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell's careers -- not to mention the free jazz movement in its entirety. Essentially, the recording represents such fire, passion, and energy that it can certainly reach listeners far beyond the avant-garde jazz academy. All Music Guide