Charlie Haden was an extraordinary double bassist and composer who was a key figure in the history of modern jazz.

Double bassist and composer extraordinaire, Charlie Haden (Shenandoah, Iowa, August 6, 1937 – Los Angeles, California, July 11, 2014).

Charlie Haden began his professional activity in 1959 with Ornette Coleman’s quartet, a key figure in the history of modern jazz, and very soon began to investigate in that direction that Coleman initiated known as free jazz.

In that context, Charlie Haden participated in the recording baptism of that movement with the album recorded on May 22, 1959 for the Atlantic label and entitled: “The Shape of Jazz to Come” with the invaluable collaboration of Don Cherry, another incomparable musician and leader together with Coleman of that revolutionary musical movement that still lasts today.

Charlie Haden in 1960 participated with another double bass player, Scott LaFaro in an operatic manifesto entitled: “Free Jazz” of whom both were distinguished representatives in their instrument.

In 1964 he worked with Denny Zeitin’s trio and in 1966 he returned with Ornette Coleman while expanding his performance area with collaborations left and right.

In these areas he stood out for his participation in the work, studio and recording meetings of the “Jazz Composer’s Orchestra” and in 1969 he was finally able to realize a wish he had been pursuing for years: to record his first album under his own name with the Liberation Music Orchestra.

With original arrangements by Carla Bley, the music of the Liberation also stood out for the political character of the songs, being the first time that, in that context, a jazz group echoed the popular songs alluding to the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War.

After the album recorded by Impulse in 1976 entitled: “Song for Che” in homage to Ernesto Che Guevara, Charlie Haden formed with Don Cherry, the quartet “Old and New Dreams” with which he toured throughout Europe, Asia and North America. At the end of the eighties, Charlie Haden elaborates a new musical discourse within the framework of his new formation entitled “Quartet West”.

The founding album of this new discourse was an extraordinary album generically entitled “Quartet West”, a musical manifesto of great beauty and one of the essential albums of contemporary jazz. From 1990 onwards, Charlie Haden explores more intimate jazz universes, introducing the duo format into his discourse.

In this context, the musician explores himself in the composition and his relaxation together with the other protagonist discovers us a music of great inventiveness, clean in the execution and approached from a purely instrumental point of view.

This is how on Thursday, November 14, 2002, Charlie Haden appears in Seville at the Central Theater with the master of the guitar, Jim Hall to offer a portentous concert, full of sensitivity, art and talent.

Fortunately Apoloybaco was present that magical night in Seville and Charlie Haden is still making music of the highest level. ~ (apoloybaco)

Charlie Haden teams up again with the young Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba in this melancholic and relaxing album. Ignacio Berroa on drums and percussion completes the main trio.

Special guests include tenor saxophonists Joe Lovano and David Sánchez, violinist Federico Britos Ruiz and guitarist Pat Metheny (one track only).

Rubalcaba contributes orchestrations on two tracks, both of which omit drums and percussion. Haden’s intention is to explore the bolero, a distinctive Latin dance rhythm that Ignacio Berroa accentuates with a soft, subtle snare drum roll, played with brushes, that begins on the “y” of the first beat of the measure and ends on the second.

This rhythm is perfect for a slow dance and, in fact, the whole album is very romantic, with bittersweet melodies and lilting cadences.

The only problem is that Berroa’s bolero figure is present on almost every track, perhaps what you would expect from a bolero album, but there is no getting around the fact that the music sounds pretty much the same on every track.

 (To be fair, Berroa is not the only one guilty of uniformity.) Most of the songs, except for two Haden originals and one by Rubalcaba, are Cuban and Mexican standards, and they are beauties. Haden’s reluctance to mess with them is understandable.

But the arrangements, always straightforward, fade too easily into the background.

Nocturne may be the best music for a candlelit dinner party, but Haden and his guests are capable of much more.  David R. Adler.

Charlie Haden – Nocturne (2001)
Temas:
01. En La Orilla Del Mundo (At The Edge Of The World) (Martin Rojas)
02. Noche De Ronda (Night Of Wandering) (Maria Teresa Lara)
03. Nocturnal (Sabre Marroquin/José Mojica)
04. Moonlight (Claro De Luna) (Charlie Haden)
05. Yo Sin Ti (Me Without You) (Arturo Castro)
06. No Te Empeñes Mas (Don’t Try Anymore) (Marta Valdès)
07. Transparence (Gonzalo Rubalcaba)
08. El Ciego (The Blind) (Armando Manzanero)
09. Nightfall (Charlie Haden)
10. Tres Palabras (Three Words) (Osvaldo Farrès)
11. Contigo En La Distancia·En Nosotros (With You In The Distance·In Us) (Cèsar Portillo De La Luz/Tania Castellanos)

Músicos:
Charlie Haden (Bajo)
Gonzalo Rubalcaba (Piano, Orquestación)
Ignacio Berroa (Percusión, Batería)
Joe Lovano (Saxo tenor en temas #1, #4, #7, #11)
David Sánchez (Saxo tenor en temas #6, #10)
Pat Metheny (Guitarra acústica en tema #2)
Federico Ruiz (Violín en temas #1, #5, #8)

Grabado del 27 al 31 de agosto de 2000 en Criteria / The Hit Factory Studios, Miami, FL.

Research Sources:

L’Òstia Latin Jazz

Dj, Augusto Felibertt

Also Read: Andy Gonzalez started as a musician at the age of 13 in the Latin Jazz Quintet in New York