Second Communion

Varner, Tom
Omnitone
Jazz | May 2002

Reviews

Craig Matsumoto
Reviewed 2002-05-15
A tribute to Don Cherry, featuring a cover of his "Complete Communion" suite (tracks 2-6). This is fairly straightforward stuff with some interesting composing and the occasional spastic, outside passage, maybe a shade more conservative than what Cherry and Ornette Coleman preached. Varner leads the band on french horn (!). Tony Malaby does a good job on sax, playing more "out" than I've heard from him before (see #8, and #5 sort of)

1- Midtempo
2- Big grand sound, w/the slightly out-of-unison playing that Cherry & Ornette were big on. Gets speeder after the first minute or so.
3- Mid/fast, w/blazing guitar!
4- Mid/fast, Great bop/swing theme
5- Mostly slow; great, richly toned sax solo
6- Midtempo, lots of freedom, ends with fast reprise of #2
7- Mid/fast with some nice group passages
8- Varner's own suite, nice majestic mid/slow sound. Vicious guitar-steeped ending.
9- Slow, murky
10- Fast, march-like
11- Slow

Recent airplay

Don's Hymn, Complete Communion [entire suite]
Memory SelectJul 12, 2002
Cherryco
Memory SelectJun 21, 2002
Complete Communion
Memory SelectMay 24, 2002

Track listing

1. Watts '56
2. Complete Communion
3. And Now
4. Golden Heart
5. Remembrance (My Folks)
6. Paris Ambulance Song/ ...
7. Cherryco
8. Don's Big View
9. Leaving Malaga
10. Elephantasy
11. Don's Hymn