Eternal Now

A 1973 session where Don Cherry seems to play every possible instrument under the sun except his horn. With a band of Swedes and Germans on board, Cherry roves between piano, gong, harmonium, Tibetan rkan-dung, and the xun, a globular flute from China. And his band follows suit, with bandmate Christer Bothén swapping out his bass clarinet for Tibetan bells or the donso n’goni. On opener, “Gamla Stan – The Old Town By Night,” Cherry’s breath control on the xun suggests the meditative exhales of the shakuhachi flute. From there, Cherry and group rise to more meditative and ecstatic heights.