Originally released on the tiny
Sonet
label,
Live Ankara
captures
Don Cherry
's concert at the American embassy in Turkey on November 23, 1969.
Cherry
performs with an entirely Turkish rhythm section that includes drummer
Okay Temiz
, bassist
Selcuk Sun
, and percussionist/tenor saxophonist
Irfan Suemer
. The repertoire balances original
themes with Turkish folk melodies arranged by Turkish jazz trumpeter
Maffy Falay
; there are also a couple of
Ornette Coleman
themes and a take on
Pharoah Sanders
' "The Creator Has a Master Plan." Nothing is really explored for too long; the music is played as two continuous suites, and they usually shift to new material fairly quickly (only three of the 15 tracks are significantly longer than three minutes). The ensemble has a pretty sparse sound, with
the sole lead voice (on trumpet, piano, flute, and trumpetzuerna) for much of the concert. All of this serves to emphasize the melodicism of
's playing here, and the Turkish material sits pretty comfortably alongside the jazz compositions. It's not quite essential, but it is very intriguing, and
's more devoted fans will find it more than worth their time. [
was reissued in full as part of the two-disc set
The Sonet Recordings
.] ~ Steve Huey