Charlie Haden | Artist

Charles Edward Haden was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator born 1937 in Shenandoah, Iowa. With a career spanning more than 50 years and building on the work of predecessors such as Charles Mingus, Haden revolutionised the harmonic concept of bass playing in jazz. His lyrical playing, sometimes complementing the soloist, and sometimes moving independently, helped liberate bass players from a strictly accompanying role, to becoming more direct participants in group improvisation. Growing up, Hayden's family was musical, performing country and Folk songs on KMA radio. Charlie made his professional debut as a singer with the Haden Family when he was just two years old. He continued singing until he was 15 when he contracted polio which affected his throat and facial muscles. At the age of 14, Haden had become interested in jazz after hearing Charlie Parker and Stan Kenton in concert. Once he regained his health he began in earnest to concentrate on playing the bass. Haden moved to Los Angeles in 1957 to attend Westlake College of Music. His first recordings were made that year with Paul Bley, with whom he worked until 1959. He also played with Art Pepper and Hampton Hawes who he met through his friendship with bassist Red Mitchell. In May 1959, he recorded his first album with the Ornette Coleman Quartet, the seminal The Shape of Jazz to Come. Haden's folk-influenced style complemented Coleman's microtonal blues elements. Later that year, the Quartet moved to New York City and secured a booking at the avant-garde Five Spot Cafe. In 1960, drug problems caused Haden to leave Coleman's band and he went to self-help rehabilitation in September 1963 at Synanon houses in California. Resuming his career in 1964 and working with various lineups including avant-garde saxophonist Archie Shepp, he eventually returned to Coleman's group in 1967, remaining until the early 1970s. Haden became a member of Keith Jarrett's trio and his 'American Quartet' from 1967 to 1976 with drummer Paul Motian and saxophonist Dewey Redman. He also organised the collective Old and New Dreams, with Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell. Haden founded his first band, the Liberation Music Orchestra (LMO) in 1969, working with arranger Carla Bley. Their music was very experimental, exploring free jazz and political music. Their debut self-titled album focused on music from the Spanish Civil War, which had inspired Haden. The original LMO had a stellar lineup consisting of Haden, Carla Bley, Gato Barbieri, Dewey Redman, Motian and Don Cherry, amongst others. Over the years LMO was a shifting "who's who" of jazz instrumentalists, and consisted of twelve members from multicultural backgrounds. As a recording artist Hayden released 45 studio albums up to his death in 2014 at the age of 76. Among these are superb collaborations with jazz peers such as Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny, Michael Brecker, Carla and Paul Bley, and the various members of LMO. Standout albums include Liberation Music Orchestra (1970), As Long as There's Music (1978), The Ballad of the Fallen (1983), Liberation Music Orchestra: Dream Keeper (1991), Quartet West: Always Say Goodbye (1994), Last Dance (2014) and Time/Life (2016). In 1970 Charlie Haden received a Guggenheim Fellowship for Music Composition upon the recommendation of the eminent conductor Leonard Bernstein. As a matter of interest, Comedian/actor Jack Black is married to Haden's daughter Tanya.

Artist Website: wikipedia/Charlie_Haden

Featured Albums: Charlie Haden

Related Artists: Carla Bley, Jan Garbarek, Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny, Liberation Music Orchestra