Don Cherry Where Is Brooklyn? CD

Personnel: Don Cherry (pocket trumpet, cornet); Don Cherry (trumpet); Don Cherry & Ed Blackwell (cornet); Henry Grimes (double bass); Pharoah Sanders (piccolo, tenor saxophone); Ed Blackwell (drums).
Liner Note Author: Ornette Coleman.
Recording information: Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, NJ (11/11/1966).
Where Is Brooklyn was Don Cherry's final album for Blue Note, and it returned to the quartet format of Complete Communion, this time featuring Pharoah Sanders on tenor sax along with bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Ed Blackwell. Here, Cherry abandons his concept of recording all the album's compositions as side-long medleys; rather, each is treated separately, with spaces in between the tracks. There wasn't a need to integrate the compositions by periodically returning to their themes, so perhaps that's why Cherry doesn't really focus as much on bringing out his compositions this time around. Where Is Brooklyn is much more about energy and thoughtful group interaction than memorable themes, and so there's just a little something missing in comparison to Cherry's prior albums, even though they did also emphasize the qualities on display here. Nonetheless, it's still a fine record for what it does concentrate on; Sanders is in typically passionate form, and the rest of the ensemble members have already honed their interplay to a pretty sharp edge. It's worth hearing, even if it isn't as essential as Complete Communion or Symphony for Improvisers. ~ Steve Huey
This 1966 date finds avant-jazz titan Don Cherry further exploring the mercurial musical sensibility he'd developed to near perfection in Ornette Coleman's band and on his early solo releases like COMPLETE COMMUNION. WHERE IS BROOKLYN?, as with COMMUNION, is a quartet date, this time featuring saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, bassist Henry Grimes, and drummer Ed Blackwell.
The tracks are shorter than on other albums (excepting the album's closer, "Unite," which tops out at almost 18 minutes), and while that might suggest a more focused approach to song structure, that isn't necessarily the case. Instead, the ensemble works by interactive dynamism, creating rhythmic swells and valleys, with Sanders and Cherry playing off each other through alternately spiky and lyrical passages. So engaging are the performances that the lack of themes and recognizable structure isn't much missed.Mojo (Publisher) (p.118) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Combining elements of free jazz, bebop and a scherzo melodicism learnt from Coleman, it also features some of tenor saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders' most beguiling improvs."