Tuesday, March 31, 2015

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Charlie Haden and Hank Jones

Artist:Charlie Haden and Hank Jones
Song:Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen
Album:Steal Away: Spirituals, Hymns and Folk Songs




Though mainly known for his part in creating free jazz with Ornette Coleman, bassist Charlie Haden recorded all kinds of music with all kinds of musicians. On this album, he recorded spirituals with senior citizen jazz pianist Hank Jones around the time Haden released his more famous album The Montreal Tapes. He was born Aug. 6, 1937 in Shenandoah, IA. His family performed country music on the radio as The Haden Family and Haden sang with them as a child. While recovering from polio as a teen, he got into jazz listening to Charlie Parker and Stan Kenton and then he learned to play the bass. In the late 50s, Haden moved to Los Angeles looking for pianist Hampton Hawes. This led to Ornette Coleman and that's the band that made Haden famous. Drug problems led to Haden leaving Coleman's band in 1963. His other big collaboration was in Keith Jarrett's band from 1967-76. He also worked with Coleman again and formed Old and New Dreams with members of Coleman's band. Then he formed the Liberation Music Orchestra with Carla Bley. That band was active until Haden started the Charlie Haden Quartet West in 1986. In 1989, he became a regular visitor to the Montreal Jazz Festival and he released a series of albums called The Montreal Tapes. In 1994, he heard that legendary pianist Hank Jones was coming to Montreal and a recording session was arranged. It's just the two of them. There is no band and they are recording mostly traditional spirituals including Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen. The album was nominated for a Grammy. Haden continued his activities including recording country music until his death on July 11, 2014 at age 76. Here's a video of Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen by Charlie Haden and Hank Jones.

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