Don Cherry – Brown Rice One of the most accessible fusion jazz records is also Don Cherry’s best album. Brown Rice is one of those School of Rock required listening samples for anyone breaking into fusion for the first time (and jazz in general since fusion is a bit of a gateway itself) Brown Rice is relatively short, at just over 39 minutes and only four tracks, but Cherry never feels restricted, letting his trumpet solos breathe while his backing band carries the atmosphere. On “Chenrezig” Hakim Jamil’s slithering bass makes the song menacing right up until Cherry’s trumpet catches on and on the last track here “Degi- Degi” the progression is so frenzied and unsettling it leaves the listener to find solace only in Cherry’s brief solo. The way he surrounds and constructs these pieces is really what makes this record stand out from the rest, as more than just an eclectic selection of songs, even for Don Cherry. “Brown Rice” features some Damo Suzuki-esque scatting and a Ti...
a subjective look at objective sounds