Codona was a free jazz and world fusion group which released three self-titled albums on the
ECM
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...
label in 1979, 1981 and 1983. The trio consisted of multi-instrumentalists Don Cherry, Collin Walcott, and Nana Vasconcelos. The name of the group was derived from the first two letters of the musicians' first names (COllin, DOn, NAna).
The members of the group declared that their goal was "to be open and incorporate all we know, without turning the whole world into milk toast - still encouraging the survival of the traditions". Critic
Robert Palmer
Robert Allen Palmer (19 January 1949 – 26 September 2003) was an English singer and songwriter. He was known for his powerful, soulful voice and wikt:sartorial, sartorial elegance, and his stylistic explorations, combining Soul music, so ...
stated that the group's "self-appointed mission is to fuse African, Indian and other music traditions in the heat of improvisation". The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD called the group's debut album "one of the iconic episodes in so-called (but never better called) 'world music'", and stated: "Any tendency to regard Codona's music... as floating impressionism is sheer prejudice, for all these performances are deeply rooted in modern jazz (Coltrane's harmonies and rhythms, Ornette Coleman's melodic and rhythmic primitivism) and in another great and related improvisational tradition from Brazil."
Background
The musicians had crossed paths on a number of occasions prior to the formation of the group in 1977. Vasconcelos appeared on Cherry's album ''
Organic Music Society
''Organic Music Society'' is an album by trumpeter Don Cherry recorded in 1972 and released on the Swedish Caprice label.Hear & Now'', recorded in 1976 and released in 1977. Cherry also appeared on Walcott's ''
Grazing Dreams
''Grazing Dreams'' is the second album by American sitarist and composer Collin Walcott. It was recorded in 1977 and released on the ECM label later that year.
'', recorded and released in 1977, while both Walcott and Vasconcelos played on Egberto Gismonti's ''
Sol do Meio Dia
''Sol do Meio Dia'' (Portuguese for "Noon Sun") is an album by Brazilian composer, guitarist and pianist Egberto Gismonti recorded in 1977 and released in 1978 on the ECM label.
'', recorded in 1977 and released in 1978. The members' involvement with Codona overlapped with their participation in other projects, Cherry with Old and New Dreams, Walcott with Oregon, and Vasconcelos with Pat Metheny, Milton Nascimento, Jan Garbarek, Jon Hassell, and others. Although the group was conceived as a leaderless trio, Walcott was the organizer and primary composer.
Codona was noted for its use of a broad range of instrumentation. While Cherry was primarily known as a trumpet and cornet player, he also performed on various
flute
The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
s,
organ
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hammered dulcimer
The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-stringed instrument which consists of strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set before the musician, who in more trad ...
, sanza, and timpani, while Vasconcelos performed on berimbau, cuica, talking drum, and a variety of percussion instruments. In addition, all three musicians sang. The group was also known for its unusual arrangements, an example being "Colemanwonder", a medley of two
Ornette Coleman
Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, and composer known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Jazz: A Colle ...
tunes combined with
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...
's " Sir Duke", performed on trumpet, sitar, cuica, and percussion, and appearing on the group's debut album.
The group disbanded following Walcott's death in a traffic accident in East Germany in 1984.
Codona 3
''Codona 3'' is the third and final album by the jazz trio Codona, which featured sitarist and tabla player Collin Walcott, trumpeter Don Cherry and percussionist Naná Vasconcelos. It was recorded in 1982 and released on the ECM label the followi ...