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Charlie Haden's LMO at Yoshi's 12/6-11 |
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Written by Ronaldo Oregano
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Tuesday, 22 November 2005 |
Grammy-winning bassist and composer Charlie Haden makes a appearance at
Yoshi's December 6th through the 11th with the new incarnation of his
famed group, the Liberation Music Orchestra to celebrate the release of
the new Verve CD, Not In Our Name. The LMO inclides Haden,
Alan Broadbent - piano, Tony Malaby & Chris
Cheek - tenor saxophone, Miguel Zenon - alto saxophone, Michael
Rodriguez & Seneca Black - trumpet, Curtis Fowlkes - trombone, Joe
Daley - tuba, Steve Cardenas - guitar, and Matt Wilson - drums.
In the midst of a fragile, post-9/11 atmosphere, legendary
bassist/ composer/ bandleader Charlie Haden was inspired to create his
meditative American Dreams as a kind of healing balm for a shattered
national psyche. As he wrote in the liner notes of that majestic 2002
symphonic offering: “I always dreamed of a world without cruelty and
greed, of a humanity with the same creative brilliance of our solar
system, of an America worthy of the dreams of Martin Luther King, and
the majesty of the Statue of Liberty...This music is dedicated to those
who still dream of a society with compassion, deep creative
intelligence, and a respect for the preciousness of life -- for our
children, and for our future.”
Two years later, in the aftermath of the 2004 presidential election,
Haden was inspired to speak out this time using the Liberation Music
Orchestra to articulate his concerns. Not In Our Name, the title of
this new cd, stands as a musical manifesto for the disaffection many
people in America and all over the world feel about the manner in which
the present administration is conducting its affairs both at home and
in the global arena.
The material on Not In Our Name comes strictly
from American composers. As Haden explained, “There was a necessity
that I felt to play music from American composers in protest to what’s
going on, to make a statement that just because you’re not for
everything that this administration is doing, doesn’t mean that you’re
not patriotic. So I wanted to do ‘America the Beautiful’ to show
everybody that there’s a lot of work that needs to be done here in this
country. And inside that song, Carla put the African-American anthem
‘Lift Every Voice And Sing.’ and Ornette Coleman’s provocative ”Skies
Over America” (the title track of Coleman’s first recorded orchestral
symphonic work from 1972). And then there is a Pat Metheny song that
I’ve always liked, which he wrote for the movie, The Falcon and the
Snowman. At the end of the movie they do this song with David Bowie
singing called ‘This Is Not America.’ We do ‘Amazing Grace,’ Dvorak’s
‘Goin’ Home, which is from his New World Symphony. And we also do
‘Throughout,’ which is a Bill Frisell song that my daughter Petra did
with Bill on a duet record that they did (2003’s Petra Haden & Bill
Frisell on True North). When I heard it I really loved it and wanted to
put it on the record. We also do ‘Adagio for Strings’ by Samuel Barber,
put to a chamber orchestra, which I always wanted to do.”
Haden says that the genesis for the title of this latest Liberation
Music Orchestra project happened two years ago when he was on tour in
Europe with guitarist Pat Metheny, performing music from their 1996
Verve collaboration, Beyond the Missouri Sky. “I noticed when we were
walking around in Italy and Spain that there were banners unfurled from
different balconies of apartment buildings that said, ‘Not in Our
Name,’” recalls Haden. “That’s the first time I had seen that slogan
before, and that really impressed me...that the people in the
apartments would do that. And then this past summer when we were on
tour in Europe with the Liberation Music Orchesta, Miguel Zenon came up
to me at some point and said, ‘Man, I just had this dream last night
that you should call your song ‘Not In Our Name.’ And I thought that it
was a great idea to also call the album that as well.”
As a musical statement, Not In Our Name is a profoundly moving and
beautiful collection of tunes, full of exhilarating ensemble work and
bristling, emotive solos by some outstanding musicians on the New York
scene. As a political statement, it stands as Haden’s rallying cry
against an administration that would subvert the greater good of the
country. As he writes in the album’s liner notes: “So now, although we
lost the election, we have not lost the commitment to reclaim our
country in the name of humanity and decency. Don't give up -- the
struggle continues!”
In a career spanning five decades, Haden continues to create music that
is at once revolutionary and uplifting. “I want to expand jazz,” he
says. “I don’t want to keep the audience limited. I want to reach
people who have never come to a jazz concert before. One way to do that
is by making records that have a lot of different kinds of music on
them.” He succeeds royally with Not In Our Name.
Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra at Yoshi's in Oakland
Charlie Haden - bass
Alan Broadbent - piano
Tony Malaby & Chris Cheek - tenor saxophone
Miguel Zenon - alto saxophone
Michael Rodriguez & Seneca Black - trumpet
Curtis Fowlkes - trombone
Joe Daley - tuba
Steve Cardenas - guitar
Matt Wilson - drums
Tuesday, December 6 - Sunday, December 11
Tue, Wed, Thu 8:00pm Shows $24, 10:00pm Shows $18
Fri 8:00pm Show $28, 10:00pm Show $22
Sat Shows at 8:00pm & 10:00pm $28
Sun 2:00pm Matinee, $5 Kids, $15 Adult W/One Kid, $24 General
Sun 8:00 $28
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 Tuesday, 02 December 2008
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