Liberation Music Orchestra

Description

Time Magazine has hailed music legend Charlie Haden as one of the most restless, gifted, and intrepid players in all of jazz. Hadens career which has spanned almost 60 years has encompassed such genres as free jazz, Portuguese fado and vintage country not to mention a consistently revolving roster of sidemen and bandleaders that reads like a list from the jazz hall of fame. As an original member of the ground-breaking Ornette Coleman Quartet that turned the jazz world on its head the late 1950s, Haden revolutionized the harmonic concept of bass playing in jazz. In addition to his hugely influential work with Coleman, Don Cherry, Billy Higgins, Ed Blackwell, Dewey Redman and Keith Jarrett throughout the 60s, and 70s Haden subsequently collaborated with a number of adventurous jazz giants, including John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, Chet Baker and Joe Henderson. In 1969, under the banner of Liberation Music Orchestra, Charlie commissioned Carla Bley to arrange for a large cast of illustrious improvisers including Don Cherry, Gato Barbieri and Roswell Rudd and made a record that has become a landmark in recorded jazz. In 1970, it won among many awards, Frances Grand Prix Charles Cros as well as Japans Gold Disc Award from Swing Journal. Liberation Music Orchestra is a true milestone of modern music, blending experimental big band jazz with the folk songs of the Spanish Civil War to create a powerfully original work of musical/political activism.