Where Is Brooklyn?
Label: Blue Note
Rated: NONE
WorkNameSort: Where Is Brooklyn?
This session is one of the highlights of Blue Note’s mid-’60s foray into “The New Thing,” as it once again put Cherry into a studio with his regular group (Henry Grimes and Ed Blackwell) augmented by Pharoah Sanders. This quartet had previously worked together on the sprawling “Symphony for Improvisers,” and though this 1966 date (recorded just two months after “Symphony”) is just as fiery, its impact is far more concise. Yes, “Unite” evokes the breadth of “Symphony,” as it clocks in at nearly 18 minutes, but the other four pieces here are much shorter and, accordingly, pack a stronger punch. Some moments of free-jazz excess creep in (hearing Pharoah wail on his piccolo is nice … for about 15 seconds), but it still manages to be one of Cherry’s finest moments.
This article appears in Dec 14-20, 2005.