Thank you for buying this record. What follows is its documentation: the pressing identified, the matrix / runout transcribed by hand from the dead wax, and the condition as assessed before it was listed. It is yours to keep with the record.

— Paul, Vinyl Curator

Don Cherry

Complete Communion

c. 1973-1978 · Blue Note BST-84226 · Stereo · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Blue Note
Catalogue number	BST-84226
Year	c. 1973-1978
Mono / Stereo	Stereo
Country	US
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Jazz - Free Jazz/Avant-Garde
Producer	Alfred Lion (uncredited on the jacket)
Composer	Don Cherry
Musicians	Don Cherry (cornet), Leandro 'Gato' Barbieri (tenor sax), Henry Grimes (bass), Edward Blackwell (drums)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  BNST-84226A 77 VAN GELDER
Side B:  BNST-84226B 77 VAN GELDER

Condition

Cover: EX
Vinyl: NM-

Variant chronology

1966 - US Blue Note mono first pressing, NY/Liberty transition label, Van Gelder stamp and ear
1966/67 - US Blue Note stereo first pressing, NY USA label side 1 / Liberty label side 2, Van Gelder stamp and ear
1967 - US Blue Note stereo repress, NY label, no ear
1967 - US Blue Note stereo reissue, serrated edge label
1968 - US Blue Note/Liberty stereo reissue
1971-73 - US United Artists black/blue label stereo reissue
1973-1978 - US United Artists 'b' logo blue label stereo reissue  <- this copy
1979 - US United Artists stereo reissue
1968-70 - Germany Blue Note stereo pressing
1982-83 - France Blue Note stereo reissue
2015/2025 - Blue Note 75th/modern stereo reissue - price not established from documented sales

This Pressing

Later pressing - United Artists-era 'b' logo stereo label, placing this copy well after the 1966 original New York/Liberty transition issue.

The Album

Recorded on Christmas Eve 1965 at Van Gelder's Englewood Cliffs studio, Complete Communion was Don Cherry's debut as a leader for Blue Note and one of the defining early statements of the 1960s avant-garde. Rather than present a set of discrete tunes, Cherry fused four of his compositions per side into two continuous suites, each movement flowing into the next through thematic recurrence and collective improvisation - a structural innovation that drew directly on his years with Ornette Coleman's quartet while pushing further toward open form. The quartet of Cherry on cornet, the young Argentine tenor saxophonist Leandro 'Gato' Barbieri, bassist Henry Grimes, and drummer Edward Blackwell brought together a cross-section of the new jazz vanguard, and their interplay - alternately lyrical and turbulent - became a touchstone for the genre. The album arrived as Cherry was shaping his own voice after Coleman's groundbreaking groups, and it stands as a pivotal early document of his career-long exploration of global and improvised musics. Critics have long regarded it as one of the most successful attempts to impose large-scale form on free improvisation, and it remains a foundational recording in the free jazz canon, cited as an influence on subsequent suite-based and modal free-jazz writing.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Complete Communion
2. And Now
3. Golden Heart
4. Remembrance

Side 2

1. Elephantasy
2. Our Feelings
3. Bishmallah
4. Wind, Sand and Stars

The Label

The side labels on this copy show a blue background with a large white 'b'-shaped logo enclosing a musical note, 'Blue Note' set in white script beneath it, and rim text reading 'Manufactured by United Artists Music and Records Group, Inc. - Los Angeles, California 90028 - Made in U.S.A.'. This is the design Blue Note used while operating as a United Artists division from the early-to-mid 1970s, replacing the earlier black-and-light-blue Liberty/UA labels and the still-earlier New York/Liberty transition labels used on the catalogue number's first pressings. A copy with this label is therefore a later stereo reissue of the title, pressed well after the original 1966 New York/Liberty stereo and mono issues and after the black/light-blue United Artists labels of the early 1970s.

Fidelity

The album was recorded and mastered by Rudy Van Gelder, and this copy's runout still carries his stamp, so it derives from the same lineage of metal used for the original lacquers. Collectors generally rank the original New York/Liberty transition stereo and mono pressings above the United Artists-era reissues, citing thinner vinyl stock and more variable quality control on the later pressings; the mono first pressing in particular is prized for its impact. Modern audiophile reissues in the Blue Note Tone Poet series are regarded by collectors as the best-sounding modern cut of this title, ahead of both this reissue and the simple black vinyl reissues of the 1970s-80s, though still discussed alongside the original Van Gelder pressings as the benchmark.

Notes

This copy carries the blue 'b'-logo label used by Blue Note under United Artists ownership in the 1970s, not the New York/Liberty transition labels of the 1966-67 originals. The Van Gelder stamp remains in the runout, confirming the lacquer still derives from the original metal, but the label design and runout suffix point to a mid-1970s stamper rather than a first-pressing lacquer. It is therefore a later stereo reissue of the title rather than an original pressing.

Documenting collections

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