The handwritten label on Side A of the cassette reads, “Charlie Haden 21.07.94”. The slightly illegible writing on Side B perhaps says, “West-Port”. This is a concert by the Charlie Haden Liberation Orchestra. A little internet sleuthing confirms the performance took place at the Jazz Port Festival in Hamburg, Germany on 21 July 1994. It may have been recorded for radio broadcast.
Charlie founded the Liberation Music Orchestra in 1969 to protest the Vietnam War and U.S. imperialism around the globe. Charlie periodically reconvened the Orchestra over the years, mostly coninciding with U.S. Republican presidencies. He used the format to address further American imperialist tendencies, racism and inequality at home and abroad, political corruption, and later, global warming.
The LMO tours were massive undertakings. A twelve-person band with tour manager, driver, and technicians, on a shoestring budget. As you’ll be able to hear in the onstage pre-show banter on this tape, the musicians were far from exhausted. An LMO show always meant joy and a rapturous appreciation for life, music, and freedom. I’ll post side two next week. Solid, Jackson.
In this Substack podcast I listen to albums and cassettes from the collection of my father, the late jazz bassist Charlie Haden. If you like what you hear, please consider subscribing. I’m writing a book of Memoires about life, death, jazz, slowcore, and survival. The address is joshhaden.substack.com.
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