Don Cherry ‎– Om Shanti Om

Over the last few years we’ve been spoiled with great spiritual jazz reissues coming from all directions, but Don Cherry’s ‘Om Shanti Om’ is a special one.Recorded at the Italian RAI studios in 1976 for a television broadcast, it features Don Cherry and his wife Moki at the height of their spiritual and creative powers, accompanied by legendary Brazilian percussionist Naná Vasconcelos.Together they form the heart of Organic Music Theatre, the improvisational group that toured worldwide festivals during the first half of the seventies and recorded the utterly fantastic album of the same name for the Swedish Caprice imprint. They’re joined here by Italian multi-instrumentalist Gian Piero Pramaggiore.As anyone who has seen the forty minute concert registration will attest (the whole thing is on YouTube in full black-and-white glory and it’s one of the greatest things the web has to offer - you owe it to yourself to check it out in its entirety) this performance is a work of wonder - a musical get-together that consists of elements of free jazz, classical and spiritual music inspired by Cherry’s time in India with the Dagar Brothers, sacred Buddhist melodies from Tibet and the Trans-Amazonian sounds of Nana Vasconcelos, but transcends any genre label you’d want to put on it. ‘Om Shanti Om’ is a freeflowing ceremonial celebration of life that’s completely free of any restriction or pretense - a mindblowing work of pure altruistic beauty. (RO)