Where Is Brooklyn?

This 1966 date finds avant-jazz titan Don Cherry further exploring the mercurial musical sensibility he'd developed to near perfection in Ornette Coleman's band and on his early solo releases like COMPLETE COMMUNION. WHERE IS BROOKLYN?, as with COMMUNION, is a quartet date, this time featuring saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, bassist Henry Grimes, and drummer Ed Blackwell.
The tracks are shorter than on other albums (excepting the album's closer, "Unite," which tops out at almost 18 minutes), and while that might suggest a more focused approach to song structure, that isn't necessarily the case. Instead, the ensemble works by interactive dynamism, creating rhythmic swells and valleys, with Sanders and Cherry playing off each other through alternately spiky and lyrical passages. So engaging are the performances that the lack of themes and recognizable structure isn't much missed.