A TRIBUTE TO DON CHERRY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnmWOcc9w3U
What kind of person was Don Cherry?
"He never worried. About anything. Ever. It was amazing. If he saw someone else worrying, even a total stranger, he'd try to cheer them up. Tell them jokes. He was always raising people's spirits, encouraging them. He was also a big practical joker."
"Don really loved children. And he was very concerned about them having the opportunity to develop their potential. One example of this was his dream that all our children would grow up to play music together someday."
"Don was a very giving person and was always thinking about what he could do for other people."
"I tell my students at Cal Arts, if you want to be a great musician, strive to be the best person you can be and
maybe you can become a great musician."
Words like "ethical", "creative" and "spiritual" reduce human qualities to dry abstractions and give the illusion that these qualities are separate developments. If you try to fragment water the same way, you get hydrogen and oxygen, two gases that blow away.
Only when the elements are together in the right proportion do they become life-giving water.
Do we have a word for a human being who is a profound artist, a generous teacher, a joyful clown, a good friend, a lover of life, and a champion of the potential in others? I don't know.
But I did hear Charlie Haden talk about Don Cherry.
asolini (2007).!!!
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