Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra - "Not In Our Name"

sentimental favorite ... weird track, not the best showcase of his skills. i like it because i used to have my alarm clock set to jazz radio and i woke up to this track one morning, it was magical.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2H5BCzuPOE

i wasn't really conscious until the "sextant"-sounding part about 6 minutes in and i thought i was still dreaming because it was so weird

So glad that he lived to hear the album recently released by his daughters.

he looked in fine health just a few years back, but that's how it goes.

what a musician

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW93IP5tnY0

To me he could do no wrong, never played a note he didn't mean, always had great collaborators and interesting things to say about other musicians, great family man, no false humility, no bluster, no jive, just a great tone and great music. Beautiful deep cat and I am very sad that I will never get to go to another one of his gigs, and didn't go to enough of them when he was here.

I feel so glad I got to interview him in person once (in '97; he was promoting Beyond the Missouri Sky, an album of duets with Pat Metheny). Seriously one of the calmest, most centered, kindest people I've ever met. Reminded me of my favorite Jesuit priest from the two years I spent in Catholic school. I only saw him play live twice—once with the Quartet West, that same year, and then again in 2003 at a NYC jazz festival; his group was on the same bill as Ornette Coleman's group, but they never took the stage together, unfortunately.

that metheny album is actually pretty nice.
there's an interview clip w/ haden (which i think appears in the ken burns jazz thing, maybe elsewhere) where he describes his first day with ornette and it's like it was a religious experience (he might even use those words i can't remember). it's just a good reminder that behind the genius of a guy like ornette, you need to have someone there at the very beginning who is just a complete true believer. a disciple if you want to get religious about it. like, there are lots of easier paths to go down if you want to be a musician than to align yourself with someone like ornette coleman. but haden seems to have done it with complete trust.

Charlie Haden sitting at the drums in the Synanon movie

http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2014/07/charlie-haden.html

http://townhall.com/news/us/2015/01/14/jazz-stars-gather-for-memorial-to-bassist-charlie-haden-n1943035

Read elsewhere that this was quite touching and inspiring

http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/1072881/message-at-charlie-haden-memorial-hey-man-were-family
January 16, 2015

Message at Charlie Haden Memorial: “Hey, Man—We’re Family”

Jazz Musicians Honor the Great Bassist at Town Hall

By Larry Blumenfeld

I am massively loving his Folk Songs album and the collab he did with Carla Bley right now.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/cc/cf/ba/cccfbaf764ddeed6522f74d9a2d7992d.jpg

<3

too cool