Charlie Haden formed the Liberation Music Orchestra just over half a century ago, compelled by what he once called “a commitment to equality and to humanism and compassion in the world.”
Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra 2020 – 1. Time/Life (for Ruth) 2. We Shall Overcome
Category: Blog |
New album available now with Charlie Haden and Brad Mehldau
Get the new album here: https://verve.lnk.to/LongAgoAndFarAway
Charlie Haden – bass Brad Mehldau – piano
A live concert recorded on November 5, 2007 at the Christuskirche in Mannheim, Germany, during the Enjoy Jazz Festival.
The sound is exquisite. The interplay between the two artists at the highest level. It’s the only time Haden and Mehldau
had the opportunity to play duets for an entire concert. Masterful.
Category: Blog |
Just Released! Magico (Charlie, Egberto & Jan)
Jan Garbarek / Egberto Gismonti / Charlie Haden
Magico – Carta De Amor
Jan Garbarek: tenor and soprano saxophones, flute, percussion
Egberto Gismonti: guitars, piano
Charlie Haden: double-bass
This all-star trio came together in the late 70s/early 80s and made just two magical studio recordings for ECM. The band performed in Europe during the few years it existed. ECM producer Manfred Eicher discovered, after more than three decades in the ECM archive, an astonishing live recording of the band from a concert in his home town of Munich which he has now newly mixed in 96 kHz/24 bit.
Purchase @ amazon.com
Nate Chinen on Charlie Haden and Hank Jones’ ‘Come Sunday’
The American standard “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” has received no shortage of noble ministrations since it was composed, by the Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey, some 80 years ago. Mahalia Jackson and Aretha Franklin are most famously associated with the song, but there are also popular recordings by Elvis Presley, Jim Reeves, Nina Simone and many others, and what they all have in common is a reverential pathos, the suggestion of human frailty in the face of the divine. The song’s second verse cuts to the heart of mortal supplication:
When my way grows drear
Precious Lord linger near
When my life is almost gone
Hear my cry, hear my call
Hold my hand lest I fall
Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home
Those lyrics haunted my head as I encountered the instrumental version of “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” that opens Come Sunday, a new Emarcy release from bassist Charlie Haden and pianist Hank Jones. The reasons should be obvious: Jones, who was 91 when the album was recorded, in February of 2010, died just three months later. His passing was widely mourned in the jazz community, especially by those musicians, like Haden, who had counted him among their dearest elders.
[ continue reading article here ]
Courtesy JazzTimes.com
Body & Soul …
“Chris (Anderson) is risking his life with every chord, that’s how much it means to him. He has such a reverence for beauty, he plays like an angel.”
– Charlie Haden
This recording marks a very important occasion for the two musicians, and is the result of three days of intensive rehearsal and recording. The venue was Cami Hall in New York, chosen for its location, acoustic properties, character and charm. This album is a feat of improvisation and none of the spontaneity is lost through the recording of their music on to tape.
Charlie Haden & Chris Anderson: None But The Lonely Heart
Category: Blog |
Monday afternoon …
“We’re here to bring beauty to the world and make a difference in this planet. That’s what art forms are about.” – Charlie Haden
Charlie w/Keith Jarrett & Paul Motian
Category: Blog |
Haden Does Hendrix with Friends
One of the rare gifts that Charlie always brings to any musical context is his ability to fit in and shape whatever is being played on the bandstand regardless of the instrumentation and repertoire.
Here is a great illustration of Charlie’s magical aura featuring Toots Thielemans, David Sanborn, Nick Cave and others performing the Jimi Hendrix classic “Hey Joe.”
Category: Blog |
Tags: Charlie Haden, David Sanborn, Hey Joe, Jimi Hendrix, Nick Cave, Toots Thielemans
Charlie’s NEA Jazz Masters Award Speech
For those who may have missed Charlie’s NEA Jazz Masters Award thank you speech in January, here it is:
“THANK-YOU NEA FOR THIS WONDERFUL AWARD. I’M DEEPLY HONORED.
I’VE ALWAYS FELT VERY FORTUNATE TO HAVE BEEN BORN IN THIS COUNTRY SURROUNDED BY THE BEAUTIFUL MUSIC THAT CAME FROM THE APPALACHIAN AND OZARK MOUNTAINS WHERE I WAS BORN.
I STARTED SINGING ON MY FAMILY’S RADIO SHOW WHEN I WAS TWO YEARS OLD. MY MOTHER USED TO TAKE ME TO THE AFRICAN AMERICAN CHURCH ONE OR TWO SUNDAYS A MONTH SO THAT WE COULD EXPERIENCE THE MUSIC. IT WAS SO INSPIRING.
MY FATHER TOOK ME TO MY FIRST JAZZ CONCERT IN SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI WHEN I WAS THIRTEEN. A LOT OF GREAT JAZZ MUSICIANS CAME FROM MISSOURI: CHARLIE PARKER, MILES DAVIS, JIMMY BLANTON.
I LEARNED AT A VERY YOUNG AGE THAT MUSIC TEACHES YOU ABOUT LIFE BECAUSE WHEN YOU ARE IN THE MIDST OF IMPROVISATION THERE IS NO YESTERDAY AND NO TOMORROW – THERE IS ONLY THE MOMENT YOU ARE IN.
IN THAT BEAUTIFUL MOMENT YOU EXPERIENCE YOUR TRUE INSIGNIFICANCE TO THE REST OF THE UNIVERSE – AND IT IS THEN- THAT YOU CAN EXPERIENCE YOUR TRUE SIGNIFICANCE TO THIS UNIVERSE.
I THANK THE NEA FOR THEIR VITAL SUPPORT OVER THE YEARS. I THANK MY FAMILY – MY PARENTS AND SIBLINGS WHO BEGAN MY MUSICAL JOURNEY WITH ME; MY SON JOSH, AND DAUGHTERS, PETRA, TANYA AND RACHEL; MY GRANDSONS SAMMY, TOMMY AND CHASE.
I THANK MY WIFE, RUTH CAMERON, WITHOUT WHOSE DEDICATION AND LOVE I WOULD NOT BE HERE TODAY.
I THANK ALL THE WONDERFUL MUSICIANS WHO HAVE INSPIRED ME OVER THE YEARS FROM BACH TO RACHMANINOV TO CHARLIE PARKER TO THE GREAT ORNETTE COLEMAN AND MANY MORE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD AND THROUGHOUT THE CENTURIES.
I AM TRULY HUMBLED.”
Charlie Haden, January 10, 2012
Jan. 10th: New Release “Come Sunday” Now Available!
In 1995, jazz legends bassist Charlie Haden and pianist Hank Jones recorded a milestone of eloquent music, Steal Away, based largely on traditional spirituals and folk songs. The New York Times called the Grammy-nominated duo album “exquisite,” while another reviewer wrote, “This is music by two masters, immersing themselves in a profound stream of American music.”
Nearly 17 years later arrives the luminous follow-up, Come Sunday, recorded in February 2010 shortly before Jones passed away. It’s another magical and reverent collaboration that plumbs the lyrical and transcendent depth of hymns, carols, spirituals, folk songs and classic tunes.
Photo credit: Kris King
