Goodbye, Charlie Haden

Charlie Haden 1937-2014
(source: his own website)

Charlie Haden was the unlikely bassist. A product of the Grand Ole Opry, of all places, he became the young, fresh, white face of the "new thing" in 1959, when Ornette Coleman opened at the Five Spot in NYC on Tuesday, November 17th. The chronicles tell a tale of "everybody" checking out the new group, from Willem De Kooning to Leonard Bernstein, and Haden himself has told how he played with his eyes closed in front of such an imposing jury of bass players as Charles Mingus, Paul Chambers, Wilbur Ware, and Percy Heath, among others.

Charlie Haden with Ornette Coleman's Quartet in 1960

Since then, during his long and fruitful career, Haden proved to be extremely adaptable: he played and recorded with everybody. There seems to be, in his approach to music, a sort of universal root that enabled him to connect with anyone. At the same time, he wasn't afraid to speak his mind, as he did with his four Liberation Music Orchestra albums, and yet everybody seemed to love him.

Satchmo on Sunday

There's always something special in duets between a vocalist and an instrumentalist. Neither has anywhere to hide, but they do have more space to stretch out and more flexibility to accommodate each other. 

Whatever your taste, Louis Armstrong, Oscar Peterson and Herb Ellis are phenomenal musicians. Hearing them in this setting is just a delight. Both duets come from the 1957 Verve album Louis Armstrong meets Oscar Peterson (Verve/Universal 0602498840283).

Louis Armstrong (vocals) & Oscar Peterson (piano): "What's New?" (on MySpace / on Spotify)

Louis Armstrong (vocals) & Herb Ellis (guitar): "There's No You" (on MySpace / on Spotify)

PS: Go here for a more thorough post on "There's No You" by wunderkind Satchmologist Ricky Riccardi, whose book on Louis Armstrong, What a Wonderful World, is out now on paperback.