Miles Davis dismissed him as a gimmick playing random notes on a brass toy, then walked into the Five Spot Cafe, borrowed the tiny pocket trumpet, played a set on it, and publicly changed his mind. This episode builds a biography of Don Cherry from that turnaround. Born in Oklahoma City in 1936 to a family of Choctaw and African-American heritage, he grew up around his father's Cherry Blossom Club, which hosted Charlie Christian and Fletcher Henderson, then moved to Watts in 1940 as Central Avenue boomed. Skipping class to play in another school's swing band got him sent to a reform school, where he met drummer Billy Higgins, the partner who would help him build the rhythmic shorthand behind free jazz.

The episode covers his mentorship from Clifford Brown, the rule-breaking records with Ornette Coleman including The Shape of Jazz to Come an ...