Cherry, Donald Eugene

▪ 1996

      U.S. jazz trumpeter (b. Nov. 18, 1936, Oklahoma City, Okla.—d. Oct. 19, 1995, Málaga, Spain), was a pioneer of free jazz as a member of the Ornette Coleman Quartet and later joined jazz with elements of African, Asian, Middle Eastern, and European music, thereby becoming a pioneer of world music as well. Cherry, who grew up in Los Angeles, hailed from a musical family. He had already achieved some local success as a trumpeter in the conventional bop idiom by the time he met alto saxophonist Coleman in 1956. After Cherry joined Coleman's quartet, the group abandoned standard harmonic structures in favour of improvisation wholly on melodic material. Cherry played trumpet and Pakistani pocket trumpet in Coleman's classic recordings of 1958-61 and evolved into a melodic improviser of rare rhythmic freedom and poise. The free jazz idiom was highly controversial when Cherry left Coleman to join Sonny Rollins' quartet in 1962. While Cherry performed with the New York Contemporary Five, his trumpet provided a lyric contrast to the drastically intense sonic explorations of tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler when they played and recorded in Europe in 1964. Cherry's own albums began appearing the next year. He traveled widely and mastered ethnic instruments as well, including African and Indian flutes in his 1968 ensemble composition Eternal Rhythm and in duets with drummer Edward Blackwell. During the 1970s Cherry began playing in Old and New Dreams, a quartet comprising Coleman veterans devoted to his repertoire. Though the most influential of free jazz trumpeters also played with rock and reggae groups, he was principally known as a jazz artist.

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