Don Cherry
Don Cherry (November 18, 1936 - October 19, 1995) was an American jazz composer, trumpeter, flautist and pianist.
As a student at The Lenox School of Jazz in Lenox, Massachussetts, Cherry's fellow students were Ornette Coleman and John Bergamo. Cherry performed with Coleman and other legendary jazz greats like John Coltrane, Sun Ra, Carla Bley, Sonny Rollins, Ed Blackwell and Albert Ayler. In 1966, he started his own band and began fusing jazz with traditional African, Middle Eastern and Hindustani music. In 1971, he collaborated with Krzysztof Penderecki on the album Actions and in 1973, he co-composed the score for Alejandro Jodorowsky's cult movie The Holy Mountain. He also performed with rock artists like Lou Reed, Bongwater and Ian Dury and the Blockheads and in 1992, with L. Shankar in Mumbai, India.
Don Cherry was the father of pop singers Neneh Cherry and Eagle-Eye Cherry.
Frank Zappa
When Zappa and the Mothers performed at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark on 3 October 1968, Cherry jammed with Zappa's band for 10 minutes on stage.
During the Actuel Festival in Amougies, Belgium (1969), where Zappa was MC and one of the headliners, Don Cherry also performed at the event.
