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Charlie Haden R.I.P.


Bilbo
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Yes, that's sad news indeed. He's been a major inspiration on my double bass playing as he was supremely musical, always sympathetic to what was going on around him and never really went in for any showboating.
Though this may be somewhat selfish, I'm sad that I never managed to see him play. He was also a proper lefty of the old-fashioned sort, and I'm of the opinion that the world could do with some more of those...

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This is one of the best Charlie Haden interviews i've read. Interesting stuff on his time with Ornette Coleman including playing alongside Ornette's 9 year-old son Denardo on drums and his thoughts on Scott LaFaro with Ornette.


http://dothemath.typepad.com/dtm/interview-with-charlie-haden.html

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R.i.p. To a gentle giant of Bass.

I loved his music and his thought provoking views .

"Iraq is not a war," he said from his home in Santa Monica, Calif. "It was never a war. It's an occupation. … [Not in Our Name] is a desperate attempt to reach people with beautiful music and try … to make them realize how important it is to have reverence for life. To see the preciousness of life and to recognize the injustices of the world and who caused them and are usually not held accountable for them."

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It's hard to believe now what impact the Ornette Coleman quartet had on music in the late 50s/early 60s. They were creating their own music (The LP This Is Our Music was named so because it was) revolution and most Jazz critics and fans loathed them and they were ridiculed by many jazz fans and in the music press although this changed and both critics and fans mellowed as the 60s drew on. Charlie Haden was integral part of that Quartet's sound so much so that Coleman's music noticeably changes with his later groups and bass players. Although Coleman didn't ever stand still musically. A fantastic lyrical bass player for sure but he was a true innovator and groundbreaker. Revolutionary music.


http://youtu.be/405MdvmBoAU

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  • 2 weeks later...

[color=#444444][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=4][i]Posted on Facebook by Keith Jarrett - 7/22/14[/i][/size][/font][/color]

[color=#444444][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=4]For Charlie[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#444444][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=4]So...Charlie....what can I say? The bass became the bass again in your hands, after all the players who thought they were making it hipper, while they were also making it more synthetic and metallic and harsh and cold (leading to the eventual winner of the contest...the so-called electric bass). You wrapped yourself around the bass while you played; inhabited it, made love to it; and those of us who heard you and played with you heard that. All around you were players who were more "detached" from the instrument. What must you have thought of that detachment? Actually, I know the answer, because in all the time we played together in my trio, the American Quartet, and with a string section, etc. (even when you were strung out on heavy drugs), you didn't think about anything but the music. You said it was hard for you to listen to me play with my band because you knew what notes you would have played. Other bass players didn't impress you much; what was technique if there was no heart there?[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#444444][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=4]I had a tour assistant who heard "Jasmine" in a limo on the way to a gig. She was young and not familiar with jazz, but she said "You guys are so together!" and so I asked her: "What do you mean, Amy?" She said, "Well, if you played bass and Charlie played piano, you would play the same way." This was a compliment.[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#444444][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=4]Once I was backstage at a jazz festival and Ornette Coleman was also there. We had never met, and by that time I had a quartet with Dewey Redman (who was a serious alcoholic) and Charlie (who was a serious drug addict) and Paul Motian, but Dewey and Charlie had both been with Ornette and then joined my group. Ornette asked me how I knew this "church music"; I had to be black. "No," I said, but church is everywhere. Then he asked me how I could keep a group together this long (ten years, at least) with Charlie and Dewey in the band; how was it possible? And I answered, "because they're the best."[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#444444][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=4]In the very beginning, when I had the chance to make my first record with anybody I wanted to use, I rehearsed with another bass player, who was too busy with a different group at the time; so Charlie was my second choice (!?). I hadn't heard him very much at the time, but after the first rehearsal it never occurred to me to look for anybody else. We had an indelible connection that lasted over 40 years. After the quartet broke up, Charlie cleaned himself up and we recorded again after 30+ years.[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#444444][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=4]People will always love his playing but no one will ever imitate him. He was a rare, true original. Perfect intonation, the biggest ears, the warmest, most captivating tone in the history of the jazz bass; and ALWAYS musical. And I never had a better partner on a project for his honest input and deep understanding of our intentions in choosing the tracks for "Jasmine" and "Last Dance."[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#444444][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=4]Love You, Man.[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#444444][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=4]KEITH JARRETT[/size][/font][/color]

Edited by neal_b
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[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1405435798' post='2501885']
I only know his playing from Survivors Suite by Keith Jarret, very nice and pretty understated. Cool player. RIP
[/quote]

Then you have a lot of previously unheard but stunning music to listen to ;)

As have I. His discography is massive and, even as a fan, I have only scratched the surface. I only found this yesterday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VkHjig6MSI

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