Don (Donald Eugene) Cherry (November 18, 1936 – October 19, 1995) was an innovative African-American jazz cornetist whose career began with a long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman, and who would go on to live and work with a wide variety of musicians in many parts of the world.
Cherry was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and raised in Los Angeles, California. After learning various brass instruments in high school, by the early 1950s h...
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Don (Donald Eugene) Cherry (November 18, 1936 – October 19, 1995) was an innovative African-American jazz cornetist whose career began with a long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman, and who would go on to live and work with a wide variety of musicians in many parts of the world.
Cherry was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and raised in Los Angeles, California. After learning various brass instruments in high school, by the early 1950s he was playing with jazz musicians in Los Angeles, sometimes acting as pianist in Art Farmer's group. He also toured with saxophonist James Clay.
Cherry became well known in jazz in 1958 when he performed and recorded with Ornette Coleman, first in a quintet with pianist Paul Bley and later in what became the predominantly piano-less quartet which recorded for Atlantic Records. During this period, "his lines ... gathered much of their freedom of motion from the free harmonic structures."
Cherry also co-led the Avant-Garde session which saw...
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