"Imagination and a passion for exploration made Don Cherry one of the most influential jazz musicians of the late 20th century. A founding member of Ornette Coleman's groundbreaking quartet of the late '50s, Cherry continued to expand his musical vocabulary until his death in 1995. In addition to performing and recording with his own bands, Cherry worked with such top-ranked jazz musicians as Steve Lacy, Sonny Rollins, Archie Shepp, Albert Ayler, John Coltrane, and Gato Barbieri. Cherry's most prolific period came in the late '70s and early '80s when he joined Nana Vasconcelos and Collin Walcott in the worldbeat group Codona, and with former bandmates Charlie Haden and Ed Blackwell, and saxophonist Dewey Redman in the Coleman-inspired group Old and New Dreams. Cherry later worked with Vasconcelos and saxophonist Carlos Ward in the short-lived group Nu.

The Avant-Garde

Born in Oklahoma City in 1936, he first attained prominence with Coleman, with whom he began playing around 1957. At that time Cherry's instrument of choice was a pocket trumpet (or cornet) -- a miniature version of the full-sized model. The smaller instrument -- in Cherry's hands, at least -- got a smaller, slightly more nasal sound than is typical of the larger horn. Though he would play a regular cornet off and on throughout his career, Cherry remained most closely identified with the pocket instrument. Cherry stayed with Coleman through the early '60s, playing on the first seven (and most influential) of the saxophonist's albums. In 1960, he recorded The Avant-Garde with John Coltrane. After leaving Coleman's band, Cherry played with Steve Lacy, Sonny Rollins, Archie Shepp, and Albert Ayler. In 1963-1964, Cherry co-led the New York Contemporary Five with Shepp and John Tchicai. With Gato Barbieri, Cherry led a band in Europe from 1964-1966, recording two of his most highly regarded albums, Complete Communion and Symphony for Improvisers.

Cherry began the '70s by teaching at Dartmouth College in 1970, and recorded with the Jazz Composer's Orchestra in 1973. He lived in Sweden for four years, and used the country as a base for his travels around Europe and the Middle East. Cherry became increasingly interested in other, mostly non-Western styles of music. In the late '70s and early '80s, he performed and recorded with Codona, a cooperative group with percussionist Nana Vasconcelos and multi-instrumentalist Collin Walcott. Codona's sound was a pastiche of African, Asian, and other indigenous musics.

Art Deco

Concurrently, Cherry joined with ex-Coleman associates Charlie Haden, Ed Blackwell, and Dewey Redman to form Old and New Dreams, a band dedicated to playing the compositions of their former employer. After the dissolution of Codona, Cherry formed Nu with Vasconcelos and saxophonist Carlos Ward. In 1988, he made Art Deco, a more traditional album of acoustic jazz, with Haden, Billy Higgins, and saxophonist James Clay.

Multikulti

Until his death in 1995, Cherry continued to combine disparate musical genres; his interest in world music never abated. Cherry learned to play and compose for wood flutes, tambura, gamelan, and various other non-Western instruments. Elements of these musics inevitably found their way into his later compositions and performances, as on 1990's Multi Kulti, a characteristic celebration of musical diversity. As a live performer, Cherry was notoriously uneven. It was not unheard of for him to arrive very late for gigs, and his technique -- never great to begin with -- showed on occasion a considerable, perhaps inexcusable, decline. In his last years, especially, Cherry seemed less self-possessed as a musician. Yet his musical legacy is one of such influence that his personal failings fade in relative significance."

"Juvenal de Holanda Vasconcelos, known as Naná Vasconcelos (2 August 1944 - 9 March 2016), was a Brazilian percussionist, vocalist and berimbau player, notable for his work as a solo artist on over two dozen albums, and as a backing musician with Pat Metheny, Don Cherry, Björk, Jan Garbarek, Egberto Gismonti, Gato Barbieri, and Milton Nascimento.

Vasconcelos was born in Recife, Brazil. Beginning from 1967 he joined many artists' works as a percussionist. Among his many collaborations, he contributed to four Jon Hassell albums from 1976 to 1980 (including Possible Musics by Brian Eno and Hassell), and later to several Pat Metheny Group works and Jan Garbarek concerts from early 1980s to early 1990s. In 1984 he appeared on the Pierre Favre album Singing Drums along with Paul Motian. He also appears on Arild Andersen's album If You Look Far Enough with Ralph Towner.

He formed a group named Codona with Don Cherry and Collin Walcott, which released three albums in 1978, 1980 and 1982.

Between 1984 and 1989, he was the Honorary President of the first samba school in the UK, the London School of Samba.

In 1981 he performed at the Woodstock Jazz Festival, held in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Creative Music Studio. In 1998, Vasconcelos contributed "Luz de Candeeiro" to the AIDS benefit compilation album Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon produced by the Red Hot Organization.

Vasconcelos was awarded the Best Percussionist Of The Year by the Down Beat Critics Poll for seven consecutive years, from 1984 to 1990. He was also honored with eight Grammy Awards.

Vasconcelos was diagnosed with lung cancer in mid 2015. He died from the disease on 9 March 2016, in Recife.

Vasconcelos has played congas, berimbau, gourd, triangle, drums, cymbals, repique, tambourine, gong, caxixi, talking drum, cuica, shaker, palmas, pandeiro, zabumba, udu, cabasa, prato, tambor, hi-hats, bells, water drum, vibraphone, güiro, ganza, cowbell, tabla, xequere, Turkish drum, repique, cymbals, surdo, shells, African bells, agogo bells, clay pot, timpani, snare drum, flexatone, Tibetan gong and other assorted percussion."

"Christer Bothén. Musician, composer and visual artist. Bass clarinet, Contrabass clarinet, Guimbri och Dontzo N´goni. Born in Gothenburg, lives in Stockholm, Sweden.

Christer is currently a member of Mats Gustafsson's Nu Ensemble, collaborates with Tisha Mukerji, Wilhem Bromanderand others. Solo projects with bass clarinet and contrabass clarinet."

"Doudou Gouirand (born April 28, 1940) is a French jazz saxophonist and composer.

Gouirand was living in Sweden when he met the great trumpeter and composer Don Cherry, who gave him the opportunity to study and work with him in Sweden and Scandinavia and eventually throughout Europe. This experience developed Gouirand's interest in and knowledge of Indian and African music, and World music in general. Cherry's interest in Ornette Coleman led Gouirand to become interested in improvised music as well.

Working with Cherry gave Gouirand the opportunity to meet J. M'Bizo Dyani, Okay Temiz, Trilok Gurtu, Djaya-Deva, Bobo Stenson, and Palle Danielsson, some of whom he worked with later in his career. This musical experience and his Latin and Mediterranean roots inspired Gouirand to meld his Mediterranean culture with contemporary jazz.

When Gouirand returned to France in the late 1970s, he worked for a period of time with Okay Temiz's "Oriental Wind" and Brazilian singer-songwriters Teca and Ricardo.

[...]

Gouirand has performed extensively in concert and at festivals in France and worldwide with Don Cherry, Mal Waldron, Jeanne Lee, J. M'Bizo Dyani, Pierre Dorge, Palle Danielsson, Bobo Stenson, Aldo Romano, and also with Paul Bley, Jim Pepper, Dino Saluzzi, and Lester Bowie."

"Moki Cherry was a Swedish interdisciplinary artist and designer who worked in tapestry, fashion design, painting, music, collage, woodwork and ceramics. She worked with materials that have a relationship to functionality and themes relating to nature and spirituality. Moki envisioned her life and work as part of an aesthetic utopian vision of 'home as stage, stage as home', in which her artworks were experienced in the home, in music and theatre performances, and in art galleries.

Moki Cherry was born in Norbotten, Sweden in 1943. While growing up her family moved around the country to wherever her father ran the station house and her mother the post office. Since early childhood Moki was absorbed by the world of animals and nature, choosing to spend most of her time in the forest instead of with other children. Moki moved to Stockholm in 1962 to study fashion and textiles at Beckman's School of Design. Her practice later developed into painting, tapestry, music, set design, theatre, sculpture, ceramics, and collage.

Moki first met the jazz musician Don Cherry in 1963 in Stockholm, while he was on tour with Sonny Rollins. In the following years Don returned to Stockholm on various tours and eventually he and Moki decided to build a life together. After graduating from Beckman's in 1966 Moki travelled to New York to work in fashion design, but instead the collaborations between her and Don began to take centre stage in her life. While Don was recording the record Where is Brooklyn? (Blue Note, 1969) Moki created the album artwork, which was the first of many album covers that she made for his music. During this time in New York Moki began making paintings, tapestries, and costumes, of which many were used to create colourful environments for Don's performances and albums.

In 1967 Moki and Don started Movement Incorporated, an art and music project that they renamed Organic Music, or at times Organic Music Theatre. Their first concert took place at ABF Huset in Stockholm. A group of musicians and dancers were invited to take part, and Moki created costumes, posters, stage sets, and a live painting during the performance. A few days later they organised a similar happening at Kunsthal Charlottenborg in Copenhagen. This is how the Organic Music tours and workshops began.

In 1968 Moki, Don and their two children, Neneh and Eagle-eye, left Stockholm for good. The family moved around Europe and the USA for the next two years with no fixed home. They lived in Vermont, close to Dartmouth College, where Don was invited as a music professor and artist-in-residence for two semesters in 1970. While in Vermont, Moki and Don organised an "opera" with over 100 students at Dartmouth. Moki designed the costumes and sets, and their home acted as a rehearsal space on weekends. Later that year the Cherrys bought an old schoolhouse in the south of Sweden that became the family home. Inspired by their time in Dartmouth, the schoolhouse became a creative and educational hub for musicians, artists, friends and their children. The schoolhouse was a base for the family while they continued to tour with Organic Music performances and workshops in Europe, USA and Japan.

In 1971 the Cherrys were invited by the curator Pontus Hultén to take part in Utopier och Visioner 1871-1981 (Utopias and Visions 1871-1981) at Moderna Museet in Stockholm. For three months the family lived at the museum and ran daily workshops and happenings in a geodesic dome built by artist Bengt Carling. Inside the dome Moki created costumes, tapestries, sculptures and paintings on a daily basis, including a large Mandala that she gradually painted on the floor. Throughout the 1970s Moki's artistic vision continued to develop and transform alongside touring and raising two children. Her practice traversed the worlds of art, music and theater with diverse influences such as Indian art and music, Tibetan buddhism, fashion, traditional folk arts and dress, abstraction, cartoons and Pop art.

Moki had her first solo exhibition in 1973 at Galleri 1 in Stockholm, which featured tapestries, paintings and live music performances. In 1975 they set up Tågarp Skola Kulturförening (Tågarp Culture Collective), to arrange public art, theatre and music events at the schoolhouse. During the summers of 1978-85 Moki and her friend Anita Roney ran a youth theatre group in Tågarp called Octopuss Teater, with annual end of term performances at Moderna Museet in Stockholm.

From the mid-70s onwards the Cherry family lived between Sweden and New York City . They rented a loft in Long Island City in Queens, which Moki built into a living space and studio. Moki began to focus more on her personal artwork and in 1979 she had a solo exhibition of tapestries at Lyn Kienholz's gallery, LAX814, in Los Angeles.

During the 1980s Moki and Don collaborated less, but from time to time she designed album artwork and clothing for Don and his bands CoDoNa and Old and New Dreams. They separated at the end of the 1980s, Don moved to San Francisco while Moki continued to live between Sweden and New York. Moki frequently exhibited in both places, and her work progressed into sculpture using wood and electric light, ceramics, and collage. She returned to painting and tapestry in the last few years of her life. Moki Cherry died at home in Tågarp on August 29th, 2009."