Don Cherry Hear & Now (LP)

(Real Gone Music) 9 tracks

1st U.S. LP reissue

Funk jazz meets world music on this 1977 masterpiece
 
After trumpeter Don Cherry burst onto the scene with Ornette Coleman, he went on to make some of the most interesting and sought-after albums in modern jazz, especially in the '70s when he incorporated world music motifs into a unique style of jazz fusion.

Produced by Narada Michael Walden, 1977's Hear & Now was the only solo album Cherry recorded for Atlantic, and while it's probably the most rock-heavy of all the albums in his catalog, it still shows his eclecticism, with Indian drones on "Mahakali" and African drums on the dazzling closing suite "Journey of Milarepa/Shanti/The Ending Movement - Liberation (from Welkin of Infinity)."

The album features a fantastic lineup with Michael Brecker, Collin Walcott, Marcus Miller, Tony Williams, Steve Jordan and guitarist Stan Samole, who especially shines.