Don Cherry, Krzysztof Penderecki

Recorded live at the Donaueschingen Music Festival on October 17, 1971, Actions features a truly mind-bending confluence of musicians of the avant-garde, in the broadest sense of the term. Don Cherry -- the brilliant American free jazz trumpeter -- had recently expatriated to Sweden and was finding his way not only among the emerging free-jazz scene of Europe but also within his own constantly expanding musical palette that had begun to incorporate elements of African rhythms, Turkish folk idioms, and Indian classical music.

Cherry, in collaboration here with Krzysztof Penderecki -- one of Poland's greatest modern composers, who is perhaps best known to casual audiences for the use of his music in The Exorcist (1973), The Shining (1980), and more recently, the third season of David Lynch's Twin Peaks -- creates a sonic landscape previously unrivaled in his work. Combining modern classical and avant-garde elements, choral arrangements, and a large free jazz ensemble -- The New Eternal Rhythm Orchestra, formed specifically for this performance and featuring a veritable who's who of the European scene including Peter Brötzmann, Han Bennink, Terje Rypdal, Albert Mangelsdorff, and Gunter Hampel -- Actions is one of the most expansive sets of Cherry's storied career.