Don Cherry’s self-titled 1975 album (often known as Brown Rice) is a groundbreaking fusion of avant-garde jazz, organic world music, and hypnotic spiritual funk. The soundscape is defined by Cherry’s raw, expressive pocket trumpet and melodic vocal chants, floating over heavy, intoxicating bass grooves and deep, polyrhythmic percussion provided by African and Indian instruments like the mfindok and tabla. Acoustic basslines bounce against droning, ambient synthesizer textures and biting electric guitar accents (notably from Frank Lowe and Ricky Ford), while heavy reverberation gives the entire recording an eerie, cavernous depth. Ethereal, earthy, and deeply psychedelic, the album bridges the gap between urban free-jazz improvisation and trance-inducing global folk traditions in a warm, resonant wall of sound.
Don Cherry’s self-titled 1975 album (often known as Brown Rice) is a groundbreaking fusion of avant-garde jazz, organic world music, and hypnotic spiritual funk. The soundscape is defined by Cherry’s raw, expressive pocket trumpet and melodic vocal chants, floating over heavy, intoxicating bass grooves and deep, polyrhythmic percussion provided by African and Indian instruments like the mfindok and tabla. Acoustic basslines bounce against droning, ambient synthesizer textures and biting electric guitar accents (notably from Frank Lowe and Ricky Ford), while heavy reverberation gives the entire recording an eerie, cavernous depth. Ethereal, earthy, and deeply psychedelic, the album bridges the gap between urban free-jazz improvisation and trance-inducing global folk traditions in a warm, resonant wall of sound.