Energy and Interplay in a Brooklyn Room
Pharoah Sanders is in typically passionate form, and the group has honed its interplay to a sharp edge.
Don Cherry recorded Where Is Brooklyn? in 1966 with a band that already knew each other's habits well. Henry Grimes on double bass, Ed Blackwell on drums, and Pharoah Sanders on woodwinds joined Cherry on cornet, and the session was built around the group's interaction rather than around carefully composed themes. The result was released on Blue Note, a label that gave this loose, exploratory material a home alongside its more polished catalog.
What you hear is a band pushing for energy. Cherry's playing has the open, questioning quality that made his earlier work so distinctive, and Sanders brings the fervent, searching tone he was known for in this period. Blackwell and Grimes keep things moving underneath with a looseness that rewards close listening. The tunes serve more as launching points than as destinations, so the pleasure comes from following what the players do with the space.
Where does it sit in Cherry's catalog? AllMusic reviewer Steve Huey called it a fine record that is slightly less essential than Complete Communion or Symphony for Improvisers, and that seems fair. If you are starting with Cherry, begin with Complete Communion (1965). Where Is Brooklyn? is for listeners who already want to hear this band stretch out, and it delivers that well.
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