DAVID ORNETTE CHERRY CELEBRATION
“Our Cherry Jam”
An Organic Nation Listening Club Tribute to Portland-Based Composer & Multidisciplinary Artist
MUSIC • STORYTELLING • VISUAL ART • DANCE
Thursday, April 13, 2023 | 7-9pm (doors at 6pm)
“Our Cherry Jam” is a jazz storytelling happening in the spirit of David Cherry’s Organic Nation Listening Club vision and will feature his compositions, concepts, visual art, and soundtracks as a community celebration of Cherry’s innovative art and creative action.
“OUR CHERRY JAM” FEATURES PORTLAND ARTISTS:
Jazz Ensemble
Gordon Lee, piano
Renato Caranto, saxophone
Shao Way Wu, bass
Tim DuRoche, drums
Israel Annoh, percussion and African drums
Norman Sylvester, guitar
LaRhonda Steele, vocals
Dance/Theatre/Performance Ensemble
Gregg Beilemeier
Renee Ward
Stephanie Schaaf
Celiine Boule
Intisar Abioto
Susan Banyas
ABOUT DAVID ORNETTE CHERRY
Internationally-lauded artist, David Ornette Cherry was a musician, composer, arranger, improviser, visual artist, and educator, who made his home in Portland, Oregon. Cherry toured and traveled extensively, but regularly contributed to the arts scene in Portland. He led Organic Roots bands, directed three jazz and storytelling Organic Nation Listening Clubproductions, composed soundtracks for The Hillsboro Story, No Strangers Here Today (Cherry/Banyas collaborations), worked with poets on stage and in recordings, collaborated with dancers, and produced a tribute concert to Portland-raised, legendary Kaw/Muscogee Creek saxophonist and composer, Jim Pepper.
The pulses and melodies that arise from his jazz, classical, African, world music background, and from playing with some of the great jazz artists of our times, speak about collective human experiences through the language of sound. They are a musical fusion of cultures laid firmly down on a foundation of purely garage-style beats. He listened with an open heart and fresh mind to his collaborators and the world around him in a way that makes his compositions not only music, but a way of life, a positive form of energy, and a way to connect. He trained young musicians in world music, theory, and improvisation, encouraging them to “learn the music, own the music, and then give it back.”
David Ornette Cherry (64) was born on April 13, 1958, in Watts, Los Angeles, and died November 21, 2022, in London following a tribute performance to his father, legendary jazz trumpeter and world music composer, Don Cherry. His last release is titled Organic Nation Listening Club, the Continual.
Oregon Artswatch Article Mr. Music / Remembering DOC