Codona - The Codona Trilogy

Codona - The Codona Trilogy

Verdict: 5/5
Label

ECM Records

CATALOG NO

176 7420

RELEASE DATE

2008

Written By

Laura Marin

Published

January 16, 2015

How can you chase something that is already with you? Three flowers were looking at each other wishing they’d switch places. What if I was you and you were me? Each was unique. One had extraordinarily vivid colors that would create a glowing aura if looked at it continuously, the other had a juicy climber-stem that once knew the highest peaks, and lastly, the only flower that dares to live deep in the oceans, a miracle of life. All three of them, from different points in the world, embarked on an exploration journey, discovering life under various conditions. They found the deep, humid, tropical jungle; careful don’t get lost, you’re in the arid, dry lands of the savanna now, lions, antelopes and a few bugs hover round you. Where will they all meet? Where’s the point of convergence?

Lichen and moss tickled my feet all through the listening of this piece. Codona. CO-DO-NA should be a word, that’s how good these three syllables go together. It’s surely no coincidence, since Don Cherry, Nana Vasconcelos and Collin Walcott communicate beyond time and space on this inimitable emotional trilogy. They’re so in sync with each other. They have their own secret garden, each being a unique part of the whole.

The first album shows you the door, is an invitation to jump in the boat. No one knows where it will take them (not even themselves), but they’re the best helmsmen you’ll ever have. Now that’s what I call Fusion. The second album, recorded 2 years later, comes in stealthily. Before you know it you’re in the middle of this epic display of forces. Synesthesia. All life is rejoicing and manifesting. Yet again, after 2 more years, the trio regroups for a last session. In the same imposing studio in West Germany, they are bringing all their energies together for an introspective 3-rd part. This time we’re going down, sinking deep. Rituals are most present on this album. Collin’s hammered dulcimer comes back, as on Codona I, to close the cycle. Nana, the magician, retraces the steps back to ourselves with his Berimbau. Don is with us all the time, warm, calming.

Codona was a multi-ethnic improvisational music group, mostly stemming from Collin Walcott (also a member of the Paul Winter Consort and Oregon)’s interest in Eastern Indian rhythms and Nana Vasconcelos’s Brazilian heritage. Don Cherry’s experience with folk music of Scandinavia, Morocco, and Africa makes for a unique, major-league fusion. There’s nothing more I could have asked for. They recorded and released three self-titled albums on the ECM label in 1978, 1980 and 1982. The group was disbanded when Colin Walcott was killed in a car accident in East Germany, 1984. Later, in 2008, ECM released The Codona Trilogy, a limited edition Box Set, under the Old & New Masters Edition.

Tracklist:

Codona
1. Like That Of Sky
2. Codona
3. Colemanwonder
4. Race Face
5. Sortie
6. Sir Duke
7. Mumakata
8. New Light

Codona 2
1. Que Faser
2. Godumaduma
3. Malinye
4. Drip-Dry
5. Walking On Eggs
6. Again And Again, Again

Codona 3
1. Goshakabuchi
2. Hey Da Ba Doom
3. Travel By Night
4. Lullaby
5. Trayra Boia
6. Clicky Clacky
7. Inner Organs