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Jazz Legend Charlie Haden Returns to His Country Gospel Roots


JohnnyB

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Charlie Haden is one of the most talented, vastly experienced jazz bassists ever. One could argue that he is the most “game” bass player alive. He arrived in LA from the midwest when he was 19, and soon hooked up with Ornette Coleman, the soprano saxist who pretty much invented freeform avant garde jazz. It was as “out there” as it gets. When Charlie was setting up for their initial performance at an LA club, in walked many of the jazz greats of the LA scene to see what was going to come of it, including the A-list of jazz bassists led by Ray Brown, followed by others of the stature of Oscar Pettiford, Paul Chambers, and Milt Hinton. Pressure? What pressure? Charlie is fearless. This collaboration resulted in the 1959 landmark jazz album, ”The Shape of Jazz to Come.”

Over the years, Charlie has played with Keith Jarrett’s “Standards” trio, played on pop albums such as Yoko Ono (!) with the Plastic Ono Band, Ricki Lee Jones on Pop Pop, John McLaughlin, Joni Mitchell (in a Mingus tribute), Ginger Baker Trio, acoustic blues with James Cotton and Joe Louis Walker (Deep in the Blues, worth seeking out), collaborations with Pat Metheny, and ambitious projects of his own such as the Liberation Orchestra. Did I mention he does all this with a raging case of tinnitus?

For all his sophistication, Charlie had simple beginnings. He was born in Iowa into a gospel-singing family known as the “Singing Hadens” or the "Haden Family Singers." Charlie’s nickname was “Cowboy Charlie,” he showed an early penchant for singing and cowboy yodeling, and was worked into the family radio show by the time he was two.

Many of the people I've known who came from primitive country roots never want to re-visit them. Once my dad got off the farm in Illinois, I don’t think you could pay him to ride a horse. My father-in-law has Appalachian roots, and although he used to do some country picking with his cousin, he now lives comfortably in an elegant old home in a very nice section of Cincinnati with no desire to return. When my mom was a kid, she and her siblings each got one pair of shoes per year, starting at the school year. They went barefoot through the summer. By the time I came along, my mom could hardly stand the sight of bare feet.

Charlie, however, has fearlessly revisited his roots and made a party of it. The album is called “Rambling Boy” and features a list of collaborators that parallels his wide-ranging career: old friend Pat Metheny, country icon Vince Gill, Dobro virtuoso Jerry Douglas, legacy country performer Roseanne Cash, The Haden Triplets (his identical triplet daughters), Ricky Skaggs, Bruce Hornsby, Elvis Costello, and Jack Black. Jack Black? Jack Black married one of the Haden triplets, making him Charlie’s son-in-law. They have two kids of their own. He sings “Old Joe Clark” on the album.

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It’s long been observed that relatives blend vocally in special ways. Think Beach Boys, Rosemary and Betty Clooney, The Carter Family, The Andrews Sisters, the McGuire Sisters, The Whites. But triplets? You haven’t heard vocal harmony until you’ve heard identical triplets.

The album opens with a rousing rendition of an A.P. Carter song (Maybelle Carter’s husband), called “Single Girl,” sung by the triplets. The blend and precision is stunning, and yet in-the-room organic at the same time, because--for all the uniformity of vocal qualities--it was sung by three individuals in real time and space, and the recording reveals that, as opposed to one person doing overdubs.

Of particular note is Roseanne Cash’s rendition of “Wildwood Flower,” another Carter family classic. I have the LP set of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” in which Mother Maybelle Carter sings this very song. Although Roseanne was not a blood relative of Maybelle, her father married into that family and you can hear Maybelle’s influence on Cash’s delivery. It is further enhanced by the unlikely and exhilarating pairing of Pat Metheny and Jerry Douglas on guitar and Dobro, respectively.

There are many other gems on the album which I could describe, but really, they’re all gems, and I hope you get the album (or come to my house) and discover them yourself. After all the collaborations, solos, and trios, this well-packed album finishes off with a little excerpt of the Haden Family radio program in 1939, featuring a 2-year-old yodeling Charlie Haden, followed by today’s Haden singing the song, “Oh, Shenandoah.” Charlie was born in Shenandoah, Iowa, where his parents were affiliated with a local radio station to broadcast their music. Charlie contracted a mild form of polio when he was 15, making it difficult thereafter to hold pitch with the family singing. It’s why he learned to play bass. But he sings the song well enough, and his rendition is so nakedly honest and heartfelt it makes eavesdroppers of us all.

Highly recommended, and available on CD, mp3, individual download, and a very well-mastered 2-LP set.

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Charlie's "Beyond the Missouri Sky" duets album with Pat Metheney gets a lot of play around here. This new one sounds interesting.

I'll need to pull that out. I bought it years ago and haven't listened to it much. I listen to his work with Ginger Baker/Bill Frisell and Scofield regularly though. He covers alot of ground!

-Austin

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I saw him with Pat Metheny and Ornette Coleman on the Song X tour. To this day, probably the most mind-blowing musical experience of my life.

So much for those who think Metheny is the Kenny G. of jazz guitarists. He can rip with anyone on any kind of jazz--fusion, straight ahead, Brazilian, avant garde, free form, whatever comes down the pike. And he's made landmark albums in each of those genres.

Charlie's "Beyond the Missouri Sky" duets album with Pat Metheney gets a lot of play around here. This new one sounds interesting.

I'll need to pull that out. I bought it years ago and haven't listened to it much. I listen to his work with Ginger Baker/Bill Frisell and Scofield regularly though. He covers alot of ground!

-Austin

For a couple of other great acoustic Haden collaborations, check out Steal Away with Hank Jones and Deep in the Blues with James Cotton and Joe Louis Walker.

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Steal away is a collection of "Negro Spirituals" and classic American hymns. I have four siblings; one is a major jazz enthusiast, one leads church choirs, and two like music (but not like the other three of us) and are very religious. This was an album I could give to each of them and know they would all love it. So I passed out copies as gifts when we'd gathered for my mom's funeral. She had been a church pianist/organist since she was 15.

"Deep in the Blues" is a worthy companion to that all-time classic recording of acoustic blues, "Muddy Waters, Folk Singer."

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