Born on November 18: Don Cherry, the free spirit of jazz

The American trumpeter was born in Oklahoma City in 1936 and has always enjoyed challenging other artists. Without any blinkers!

Since the 1950s, he has carved out a fine reputation for himself in free jazz, notably alongside tenor saxophonist Ornette Coleman (also a genius on other wind instruments). His unique sound, particularly with his tiny little horn called a cornet, invented in 1826, and his openness to world music (for example, with the album Orient in 1973) remain today the hallmarks of a career marked by masterpieces such as Brown Rice (1975).

A tireless explorer, Don Cherry has blended African, Indian, Turkish, and Swedish traditions (where he lived with his wife, the artist Moki Karlsson) with the multiple languages ​​of an often experimental jazz style.

He has collaborated with numerous artists, from John Coltrane to Carla Bley, from Arshie Shepp to Charlie Haden, Clifford Jordan to Steve Lacy. He also passed the music bug on to two of his children, Neneh Cherry and Eagle-Eye Cherry!

Until his death in 1995 in Malaga, Spain, Don Cherry remained a symbol of creative freedom and musical universality. As a gateway to his lush universe, I recommend Home Boy Sister Out, released on the French label Barclay in 1985.

(MH with Stéphane Soupart - Photo : © Etienne Tordoir)

Photo: Don Cherry on stage at the Halles de Schaerbeek in Brussels (Belgium) on April 22, 1986