Codona

Codona was a free jazz and world fusion group which released three self-titled albums on the ECM label in 1979, 1981 and 1983.^[1] The trio consisted of multi-instrumentalists Don Cherry, Collin Walcott, and Nana Vasconcelos. The name of the group was derived from the first two letters of the musicians' first names (COllin, DOn, NAna).^[2]

The members of the group declared that their goal was "to be open and incorporate all we know, without turning the whole world into milk toast - still encouraging the survival of the traditions".^[3] Critic Robert Palmer stated that the group's "self-appointed mission is to fuse African, Indian and other music traditions in the heat of improvisation".^[4] The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD called the group's debut album "one of the iconic episodes in so-called (but never better called) 'world music'", and stated: "Any tendency to regard Codona's music... as floating impressionism is sheer prejudice, for all these performances are deeply rooted in modern jazz (Coltrane's harmonies and rhythms, Ornette Coleman's melodic and rhythmic primitivism) and in another great and related improvisational tradition from Brazil."^[5]