''Home Boy (Sister Out)'' is an album by jazz trumpeter

Don Cherry Donald Stewart Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. Cherry played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins, and later coached the team for five se ...

released on the Barclay label in 1985. The album was re-issued, by We Want Sounds, in June 2018.

Background

In 2018, We Want Sounds described the album:

Recorded at Studio Caroline, a hotbed for the African diaspora in Paris during the 80s, and produced by French-Chilean musician and producer Ramuntcho Matta (his father is Chilean painter
Roberto Matta Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren (; November 11, 1911 – November 23, 2002), better known as Roberto Matta, was one of Chile's best-known painters and a seminal figure in 20th century abstract expressionist and surrealist art. Bio ...
and half-brother is cult New York artist
Gordon Matta-Clark Gordon Matta-Clark (born Gordon Roberto Matta-Echaurren; June 22, 1943 – August 27, 1978) was an American artist best known for site-specific artworks he made in the 1970s. He was also a pioneer in the field of socially engaged food art. ...
), ''Home Boy, Sister Out'' is one of Don Cherry's most original albums. Matta is one of the true architects of that 1980s Paris sound mixing music from all over the Planet with the street vibe of the French capital. He had spent his formative years in Paris and then switched to New York, where he lived between 1978 and 1980, interacting with the cream of the Downtown scene, including
Laurie Anderson Laurel Philips Anderson (born June 5, 1947), known as Laurie Anderson, is an American avant-garde artist, composer, musician, and film director whose work spans performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and ...
,
Meredith Monk Meredith Jane Monk (born November 20, 1942) is an American composer, performer, director, vocalist, filmmaker, and choreographer. From the 1960s onwards, Monk has created multi-disciplinary works which combine music, theatre, and dance, recordin ...
, Peter Gordon,
Arto Lindsay Arthur Morgan "Arto" Lindsay (born May 28, 1953) is an American guitarist, singer, record producer and experimental composer. He was a member of the pioneering 1970s no wave group DNA, which featured on the 1978 compilation '' No New York''. I ...
, The
Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talki ...
and many more. Returning to France, Matta started delving into Paris' hip underground scene led by , working and going out with
Elli Medeiros Elli Medeiros (born 18 January 1956) is a Uruguayan-French singer and actress. Career Stinky Toys Originally from Uruguay, Medeiros moved to Paris, France, at the age of 14, dropped out of high school a couple of years later and joined the ...
, which led to a chance meeting with Don Cherry, and to recording ''Home Boy'' in Spring 1985.

Reception

In a review for

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

, Daniel Martin-McCormick wrote: "For all its flaws, ''Home Boy'' is a grower. Cherry’s magnetism remains, despite the chintzy production and slapdash approach." Writing for

Bandcamp Daily Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

, Dean Van Nguyen called the album "a lost record from an oft undervalued time in the musician's life that nonetheless offers a vital document for anyone trying to fully map Cherry's pluralistic, technicolor world."

Track listing

:''All compositions by Don Cherry except as indicated'' # Butterfly Friend (3:45) (lyrics by

Moki Cherry Moki Cherry (born Monika Marianne Karlsson; 8 February 1943 – 29 August 2009) was a Swedish interdisciplinary artist and designer who worked in textiles, fashion design, woodworks, painting, collage, ceramics and set design. Her practice traver ...

) # I Walk (3:12) (music and lyrics by Ramuntcho Matta) # Rappin Recipe (6:48) # Reggae To The High Tower (4:11) # Art Deco (2:53) # Call Me (4:36) (lyrics by

Elli Medeiros Elli Medeiros (born 18 January 1956) is a Uruguayan-French singer and actress. Career Stinky Toys Originally from Uruguay, Medeiros moved to Paris, France, at the age of 14, dropped out of high school a couple of years later and joined the ...

) # Treat Your Lady Right (6:09) # Alphabet City (3:43) # Bamako Love (5:41)

Personnel

– pocket trumpet, vocals, , piano, synthesizer,

melodica The melodica is a handheld free-reed instrument similar to a pump organ or harmonica. It features a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. The keyboard usua ...

* Ramuntcho Matta – guitar * Jannick Top – bass * Negrito Trasante –

bongos Bongos ( es, bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. They are struck with both hands, most commonly in an eight-stroke pattern called ''martillo'' (hammer). The ...

, congas,

talking drum The talking drum is an hourglass-shaped drum from West Africa, whose pitch can be regulated to mimic the tone and prosody of human speech. It has two drumheads connected by leather tension cords, which allow the player to change the pitc ...

, rhythm box * Polo Lombardo – konks * Claude Salmieri – drums * Fil Mong – bass * Jean-Pierre Coco – congas * Abdoulaye Prosper Niang – drums *

– backing vocals

References

{{Authority control Barclay (record label) albums Don Cherry (trumpeter) albums 1985 albums