''Live Ankara'' (also known as ''Live in Ankara'') is a live album by trumpeter

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 ...

. It was recorded in November 1969 at the US Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, and was released on LP in 1978 by

Sonet Records Sonet Records was a jazz, pop and rock record label operating as an imprint of Universal Music Sweden. It was founded in Sweden in 1956. Sonet Records was established by Sven Lindholm and Gunnar Bergström, who managed the label into the 1980 ...

. On the album, Cherry is joined by three Turkish musicians: saxophonist and percussion Irfan Sümer, bassist

Selçuk Sun Selcuk Sun (20 February 1934-22 March 2016) was a Turkish double bass player and one of the most significant jazz musicians in Turkey. He was born on 20 February 1934 in Istanbul. He graduated from Ankara State Conservatory and went on to pursue ...

, and drummer Okay Temiz. The album was reissued by Sonet on CD in 1996, paired with '' Eternal Now'', with the title ''The Sonet Recordings.'' The bulk of the recording consists of a blend of Cherry originals and Turkish folk material arranged by Turkish jazz trumpeter Maffy Falay. 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 ...

pieces are also included, along with a version of

Pharoah Sanders Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound", San ...

' "The Creator Has a Master Plan." Falay, who had moved to Stockholm in 1965, was introduced to Cherry by saxophonist

Bernt Rosengren Bernt Åke Rosengren (24 December 1937 – 15 May 2023) was a Swedish jazz tenor saxophonist. His recordings earned him five Gyllene Skivan awards in Sweden over more than forty years. Biography Rosengren first played professionally at age 19, ...

, and sparked the trumpeter's interest in traditional Turkish music. In 1968, Temiz arrived in Sweden as part of a dance band, and he and Cherry began playing together. Temiz recalled: "Before I went to Sweden, I never played Turkish music. Never. But, after I learned from Don Cherry, I turned to the mother: Turkish music." The following year, Temiz and Cherry travelled to Turkey, where they recorded ''Live Ankara'' with Sümer and Sun, using some of Falay's arrangements.

Reception

In a review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, Steve Huey wrote: "The ensemble has a pretty sparse sound, with Cherry the sole lead voice... for much of the concert. All of this serves to emphasize the melodicism of Cherry's playing here, and the Turkish material sits pretty comfortably alongside the jazz compositions. It's not quite essential, but it is very intriguing, and Cherry's more devoted fans will find it more than worth their time." Writer Daniel Spicer stated: "Cherry's stark, vulnerable cornet and Sümer's throaty tenor sax pick out ancient melodies while Temiz and Sun flit from free-jazz free-fall to traditional rhythms and back again. Nothing quite like it had ever been attempted before." The authors of the ''

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

'' noted that, in comparison with ''Eternal Now'', ''Live Ankara'' is "closer to the work with Ornette: tight, compressed lines on the cheap little Pakistani pocket trumpet Cherry favoured, and two Ornette themes just to cement the connection."

Track listing

# "Gandalf's Travels" (Don Cherry) – 5:10 # "Ornette's Concept" (

) – 2:20 # "Ornette's Tune" (Ornette Coleman) – 2:35 # "St. John & the Dragon" (Don Cherry) – 2:02 # "Efeler" (Turkish folk material) – 2:31 # "Anadolu Havasi" (Turkish folk material) – 3:02 # "The Discovery of Bhupala" (Don Cherry) – 3:25 # "Water Boy" (Don Cherry) – 1:32 # "Yaz Geldi" (Turkish folk material) – 3:00 # "Tamzara" (Turkish folk material) – 1:03 # "Kara Deniz" (Turkish folk material) – 1:12 # "Köcekce" (Turkish folk material) – 1:11 # "Man on the Moon" (Don Cherry) – 2:56 # "The Creator Has a Master Plan" (

Leon Thomas Amos Leon Thomas Jr. (October 4, 1937 – May 8, 1999), known professionally as Leon Thomas, was an American jazz and blues vocalist, born in East St. Louis, Illinois, and known for his bellowing glottal-stop style of free jazz singing in the ...

) – 5:13 # " Two Flutes" (Don Cherry) – 2:50 Tracks 5, 6, 9–12 arranged by Maffy Falay.

Personnel

– trumpet, piano, vocals, flute * Irfan Sümer – percussion, tenor saxophone *

– bass * Okay Temiz – drums, percussion

References

{{Reflist 1978 live albums Don Cherry (trumpeter) live albums