Codona was a

free jazz Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...

and

world fusion "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical category pose obstacles to a u ...

group which released three self-titled albums on the

ECM ECM may refer to the following: Economics and commerce * Engineering change management * Equity capital markets * Error correction model, an econometric model * European Common Market Mathematics * Lenstra's Elliptic curve method for factor ...

label in 1979, 1981 and 1983. The trio consisted of

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments, often but not exclusively at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as woodwind doubler, doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and mor ...

Don Cherry Donald Stewart Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. He played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins. After concluding a playing career in the A ...

Collin Walcott Collin Walcott (April 24, 1945 – November 8, 1984) was an American musician who worked on jazz and world music. Early life Walcott was born in New York City, United States. He studied violin and tympani in his youth, and was a percussion stud ...

, and

Nana Vasconcelos Nana, Na Na or NANA may refer to: People * Nana (given name), including a list of people and characters with the given name * Nana (surname), including a list of people and characters with the surname * Nana (chief) (died 1896), Mimbreño A ...

. The name of the group was derived from the first two letters of the musicians' first names (COllin, DOn, NAna). The members of the group declared that their goal was "to be open and incorporate all we know, without turning the whole world into milk toast - still encouraging the survival of the traditions". Critic

Robert Palmer Robert Allen Palmer (19 January 1949 – 26 September 2003) was an English singer and songwriter. He was known for his powerful and soulful voice, sartorial elegance and stylistic explorations, combining soul, funk, jazz, rock, pop, regga ...

stated that the group's "self-appointed mission is to fuse African, Indian and other music traditions in the heat of improvisation". The authors of

The Penguin Guide to Jazz ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled b ...

on CD called the group's debut album "one of the iconic episodes in so-called (but never better called) 'world music'", and stated: "Any tendency to regard Codona's music... as floating impressionism is sheer prejudice, for all these performances are deeply rooted in modern jazz (Coltrane's harmonies and rhythms, Ornette Coleman's melodic and rhythmic primitivism) and in another great and related improvisational tradition from Brazil."

Background

The musicians had crossed paths on a number of occasions prior to the formation of the group in 1977. Vasconcelos appeared on Cherry's album '' Organic Music Society'', recorded and released in 1972, while Walcott played on Cherry's '' Hear & Now'', recorded in 1976 and released in 1977. Cherry also appeared on Walcott's ''

Grazing Dreams ''Grazing Dreams'' is the second album by American sitarist and composer Collin Walcott, recorded in February 1977 and released on ECM later that year. Walcott's quintet features trumpeter Don Cherry and rhythm section John Abercrombie, Palle ...

'', recorded and released in 1977, while both Walcott and Vasconcelos played on

Egberto Gismonti Egberto Amin Gismonti (born 5 December 1947) is a Brazilian composer, guitarist and pianist. Biography Gismonti was born in the small city of Carmo, Rio de Janeiro, Carmo, state of Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, into a music ...

's '' Sol do Meio Dia'', recorded in 1977 and released in 1978. The members' involvement with Codona overlapped with their participation in other projects, Cherry with

Old and New Dreams Old and New Dreams was an American jazz group that was active from 1976 to 1987. The group was composed of tenor saxophone player Dewey Redman (doubling on musette), bassist Charlie Haden, trumpeter Don Cherry and drummer Ed Blackwell. All of th ...

, Walcott with

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, and Vasconcelos with

Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He was the leader of the Pat Metheny Group (1977–2010) and continues to work in various small-combo, duet, and solo settings, as well as other side pr ...

Milton Nascimento Milton Silva Campos do Nascimento (; born October 26, 1942), also known as Bituca, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Nascimento has recorded 32 studio albums and has won five Grammy Awards, including Best World Music ...

Jan Garbarek Jan Garbarek () (born 4 March 1947) is a Norwegian jazz saxophonist, who is also active in classical music and world music. Garbarek was born in Mysen, Østfold, southeastern Norway, the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war, Czesław Gar ...

Jon Hassell Jon Hassell (March 22, 1937 – June 26, 2021) was an American trumpet player and composer. He was best known for developing the concept of "Fourth World" music, which describes a "unified primitive/futurist sound" combining elements of various w ...

, and others. Although the group was conceived as a leaderless trio, Walcott was the organizer and primary composer. Codona was noted for its use of a broad range of instrumentation. While Cherry was primarily known as a trumpet and cornet player, he also performed on various

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

melodica The melodica is a handheld free-reed instrument similar to a pump organ or harmonica. It features a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. The keyboard usu ...

, and the

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

an doussn’gouni. Walcott played

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...

tabla A ''tabla'' is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with other instruments a ...

hammered dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-string instrument which consists of String (music), strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board (music), sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set bef ...

sanza Sanza may refer to: People * Nick Sanza, Canadian retired ice hockey goaltender * Nicola Di Sanza (born 1990), Italian football player Places * Sanza (Tanzanian ward), Tanzania * Sanza, Campania, Italy * Sanza Pombo, Angola Other * Sanza, als ...

, and

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion instrument, percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a Membranophone, membrane called a drumhead, ...

, while Vasconcelos performed on

berimbau The berimbau (, borrowed from Kimbundu ''mbirimbau'') is a traditional Angolan musical bow that is commonly used in Brazil. It is also known as ''sekitulege'' among the Baganda and Busoga. It consists of a single-stringed bow attached to a gourd ...

, cuica,

talking drum The talking drum is an hourglass-shaped drum from West Africa, which can be used as a form of speech surrogacy by regulating its pitch and rhythm to mimic the tone and prosody of human speech. It has two drumheads connected by leather t ...

, and a variety of

percussion instrument A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

s. In addition, all three musicians sang. The group was also known for its unusual arrangements, an example being "Colemanwonder", a medley of two

Ornette Coleman Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, trumpeter, violinist, and composer. He is best known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Ja ...

tunes combined with

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

's "

Sir Duke "Sir Duke" is a song composed and performed by Stevie Wonder from his 1976 album '' Songs in the Key of Life''. Released as a single in 1977, the track topped the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and Black Singles charts, and reached number two in the ...

", performed on trumpet, sitar, cuica, and percussion, and appearing on the group's debut album. The group disbanded following Walcott's death in a traffic accident in

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

in 1984.

Discography

*1979: ''

Codona Codona was a free jazz and world fusion group which released three self-titled albums on the ECM label in 1979, 1981 and 1983. The trio consisted of multi-instrumentalists Don Cherry, Collin Walcott, and Nana Vasconcelos. The name of the group ...

'' (ECM 1132) *1981: '' Codona 2'' (ECM 1177) *1983: '' Codona 3'' (ECM 1243) *2009: ''The Codona Trilogy'' (ECM 2033-35) (3-disc reissue of above titles)

References

{{Authority control American jazz ensembles Free jazz ensembles ECM Records artists