Jazz Reviews : Cherry, Haden Put New Twists in the Old

Trumpeter Don Cherry and bassist Charlie Haden might be expected to treat Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman” as a perfunctory toss-off by now but the version they concocted Friday with drummer Lawrence Marable during Cherry’s 75-minute second set at McCabe’s shot that notion out of the water. Cherry introduced a startlingly effective new texture by injecting passages on the melodica, and Haden took an exemplary solo which used snatches of “Gabriel’s Trumpet” to kick off an extensive ramble through his country/folk song roots.

Cherry was plagued by a balky valve on his pocket trumpet but that wasn’t the reason for his inability to handle high notes or fast runs throughout the inconsistent yet invigorating set. He just seemed disinterested in playing the instrument and the performance picked up noticeably whenever he switched to melodica or piano. The high point came during a 10-minute segment when Cherry sang along to the lines he played on a douss’n gouni (a Malian guitar) like an African bluesman.