Eternal Rhythm
Eternal Rhythm is a jazz album composed by Don Cherry.[1] It was recorded in conjunction with the Berlin Jazz Festival in November 1968.[2]
| Eternal Rhythm | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | 1969 | |||
| Recorded | November 11 & 12, 1968 | |||
| Venue | Berlin Jazz Festival | |||
| Genre | Avant-garde jazz, jazz fusion, gamelan | |||
| Length | 41:32 | |||
| Label | MPS Records | |||
| Producer | Joachim E. Berendt | |||
| Don Cherry chronology | ||||
| ||||
In 2022, the Ezz-thetics label reissued the album along with Where Is Brooklyn? on the compilation Where Is Brooklyn? & Eternal Rhythm Revisited,[3] albeit shortened by more than three minutes.
Reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  [4] |
| Tom Hull – on the Web | B+[5] |
The AllMusic review by Brian Olewnick awarded the album 5 stars stating "Eternal Rhythm is Don Cherry's masterwork and one of the single finest recordings from the jazz avant-garde of the 1960s. It is required listening".[4]
In a review for The Quietus, Jennifer Lucy Allan called the album "the connecting piece between the pace, tension and excitement of Cherry's free jazz playing in Ornette Coleman's groups, and the relaxed invitation to international and folk forms of rhythm that came later." She commented: "I hear this album as movement between moments, and am lifted from my seat with sheer joy, any time I hear the marching theme land 12 minutes into Part One, after the frenetic generations of the rhythm section and Sonny Sharrock's guitar are batted away by Cherry's trumpet herald, and the band falls into step for a few brief and triumphant turns around the parade ground."[6]
Track listing
1. "Eternal Rhythm Part I" - 17:49 (Cherry)
- a. Baby's Breath
- b. "Sonny Sharrock"
- c. Turkish Prayer
- d. Crystal Clear (exposition)
- e. Endless Beginnings
- f. Baby's Breath (unaccompanied)
2. "Eternal Rhythm Part II" - 23:40 (Cherry)
- a. Autumn Melody
- b. Lanoo
- c. Crystal Clear (Development)
- d. Screaming J
- e. Always Beginnings
Personnel
- Don Cherry - cornet, gender and saron (gamelan), Bengali, flute in A, bamboo flute in C, metal flute in B flat, plastic flute in C, Haitian Guard, Northern Bells, voice
- Albert Mangelsdorff - trombone
- Eje Thelin - trombone
- Bernt Rosengren - tenor saxophone, oboe, clarinet, flute
- Sonny Sharrock - guitar
- Karl Berger - vibraphone, piano, gender (gamelan)
- Joachim Kühn - piano, prepared piano
- Arild Andersen - bass
- Jacques Thollot - drums, saron (gamelan), gong, bells, voice
- Cover and layout: Heinz Bähr
References
- Don Cherry discography Archived February 5, 2012, at the Wayback Machine accessed December 9, 2011
- "Don Cherry "Eternal Rhythm" | Arild Andersen" (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2020-04-01.
- "Don Cherry: Where Is Brooklyn? & Eternal Rhythm Revisited". ezz-thetics. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
- Olewnick, B. Allmusic Review accessed Assessed 17, 2011
- Hull, Tom. "Grade List: Don Cherry". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved August 16, 2022.
- Allan, Jennifer Lucy (June 8, 2021). "The Strange World Of... Don Cherry". The Quietus. Retrieved August 16, 2022.