Don Cherry - Mu First Part / Mu Second Part (1971 Japanese Vinyl 2LP)

Vinyl: EX/EX
Sleeve: VG+
Obi: None

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Photo is of the actual item.

Don Cherry - Mu First Part / Mu Second Part | Vinyl 2LP - 1971 Japanese BYG Records (YX-9007~8, Toho Geion)

Cherry and Blackwell had played together in Ornette Coleman's group from the late 1950s through The Shape of Jazz to Come and Free Jazz. By the time they sat down in Pierre Barouh's Studio Saravah in Paris, both had moved beyond Coleman's framework. Cherry plays pocket trumpet, piano, Indian flute, bamboo flute, voice, bells and percussion across the four sides. Blackwell plays drums, percussion and bells. There are no lead sheets, no chord changes, no pre-written themes. Every part, every melody, every structural shift arose from within the session. "Brilliant Action" opens Mu First Part with Cherry's pocket trumpet squeaking out angular phrases against Blackwell's shifting rhythms, the energy building rapidly before pulling back into the quieter "Omejelo." "Total Vibration" (split across two sides) is the centrepiece of the first part, stretching past 20 minutes with Cherry moving between instruments. "Sun of the East" brings in the Indian flute for the first time, and "Terrestrial Beings" closes the first part with a passage that hints at the world music direction Cherry would pursue through the 1970s.

Mu Second Part covers more ground. "The Mysticism of My Sound" opens side C with piano and percussion. The long medley on side C weaves through sections titled for Dollar Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim, whose trio album you'll also find in our catalogue) and "Man on the Moon" (the Apollo 11 moon landing had happened five weeks before this session). "Bamboo Night" closes the side with Cherry on bamboo flute alone. Side D opens with "Teo-Teo Can," moves through "Smiling Faces, Going Places" and "Psycho Drama," and closes with another medley that again references Dollar Brand alongside themes for Albert Heath. Cherry and Blackwell performed a "Mu, Part Three" concert at New York University in December 1977. Cherry later formed Codona with Collin Walcott and Naná Vasconcelos, and reunited with Blackwell in Old and New Dreams alongside Dewey Redman and Charlie Haden.

This is the 1971 Japanese double LP on BYG YX-9007~8, part of the Double Actuel series (number 206), manufactured by Toho Geion Co., Ltd.