Charlie was occasionally asked to contribute original cues to TV shows. He reluctantly played electric bass on some commercials in the early 1970s. I never knew that he performed on a Reebok TV ad soundtrack as late as 1993. He met the director by chance on a plane to New York. He recorded the tracks in the director’s hotel room at the Paramount. Composer Owen O’Toole released the songs on an obscure undated CD entitled Belief System: Possible Music For Television, which I found in my father’s collection.
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. Josh Haden’s Memoire is about life, death, jazz, slowcore, and survival. The address is joshhaden.substack.com.
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Tracks from Belief System: Possible Music For Television
“Belief System” (Reebok)
Charlie Haden - bass
Owen O’Toole - samples and loops
Recorded in Jeff Plankster’s (Paramount) hotel room and Baby Monster Studio NYC
March 1993
Belt Drive
Walkathon
Trump Wipers
Bed Wedding
Flashes
Xerox Wedding
Sumatra
Xerxes
Deep Sun
All words & images © 2025 Josh Haden, except where noted. All rights reserved.
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