Parisian composer Jonathan Fitoussi vies with himself: Is it his own records that are better or the ones he releases on his label Transversales Disques? A heavyweight fight. However, he has probably swung the pendulum in the direction of »genius label builder« with this record. The live recording of the unique encounter between free jazz trumpeter Don Cherry and electro-acoustic veteran Jean Schwarz is of outstanding quality. The world has had to wait 45 years for this documentary – and every second has been worth it. The »Roundtrip«, as this performance is now called, is so many different things at the same time: Proof that electroacoustics can also be sensual; an idiosyncratic trip between the poles; another milestone in Don Cherry’s long discography. Spiritual and free, yet not unbridled, but played out in the right measure, the band plays themselves into a deepening frenzy of sounds, rhythms and exoteric mysticism. The spirits that were conjured up here – and which, captured on vinyl, have lost none of their fascination – are still reverberating around the world. Not least since Don Cherry’s son David Ornette died unexpectedly a few weeks ago during a tribute tour in honour of his father. A record with a clear warning: don’t be put off by supposed genre boundaries!
Scott Gordon
Metals
Diagonal