Bassist Charlie Haden and manager & wife Ruth Cameron spoke to Finnish Radio Broadcasting’s jazz host Markku Salo by telephone, from their Malibu home. The air date was 23 April 2001.
“I’m not working right now because my wife and I were attacked by a Rottweiler dog,” says Charlie, a fresh cup of coffee beside him. Mr. Salo explains to his listeners, in Finnish, that Charlie and Ruth were walking their dog seven weeks earlier when a Rottweiler attacked them. Charlie had to go to the hospital. He’s recovering with a dog bite to the hand.
Charlie said to me, at the time: He and Ruth were walking Jackson at twilight. They saw a man and woman with a big dog walking towards them. The bigger dog pounced on Jackson. Charlie and Ruth tried to pry it away. The canine turned on Charlie. I can’t remember if it was Ruth or Charlie who jumped up onto the roof of a nearby parked car to escape.
Everyone, including Jackson, survived. Charlie and Ruth initiated legal action against the dog owners. They settled out of court. The dog owners moved out of the neighborhood. Charlie and Ruth used the money to purchase a house in Westlake Village, over the hill from Malibu.
Charlie and Mr. Salo switch to different topics. Charlie begins to speak. Mr. Salo overdubs his Finnish language version: the recently released Charlie Haden Quartet West CD The Art Of The Song, made with vocalists Bill Henderson and Shirley Horn: Charlie prefers the band, vocalist, and string orchestra to be in the same room recording simultaneously, despite the extra expense. The musicians inspire and play off each other, in ways separation and overdubs won’t allow. The result is a product more authentic to the compositions themselves.
Charlie talks about Ken Burns’ recently aired multi-part TV documentary Jazz. He talks about Cole Porter and Ravel. He talks about the origins of Quartet West. How he uses the project to bring back songs he loved listening to as a youngster, and to “record” with musicians he was never able to play with, like saxophonist Charlie Parker and vocalist Jo Stafford. He wants to help save classic tunes from being lost to time. He recounts telling Jo Stafford’s husband, legendary bandleader Paul Weston, “What wonderful recordings you made back then. Something magical must have happened in the studio because the interpretations are so deep and beautiful.” To which Mr. Weston replied, “Charlie, to tell you the truth, I don’t even remember. It was just another ordinary workday.”
Charlie talks about his 1970 Liberation Music Orchestra album. Songs of the Spanish Civil War. Improvising to the music of the Spanish Republican Army. He says that the recent election of President George W. Bush would neccessitate a new Liberation Music Orchestra album. He talks about his upcoming CD of Cuban music, Nocturne, which would win a Grammy.
Charlie says he isn’t upset with any current trends in jazz. “I’m not upset about anything as long as I can play.”
I am rather concerned that more people should be brought into contact with deeper art and its deeper values so that our society would become a more sensitive, humble and profound people, where life and beauty are valued. I think our society seems to be going in the exact opposite direction. Music is becoming more and more commercialized all the time. I think today, in my parents’ singing group, it was real back then.
Because every time I play quarter notes with a message, we play a million hits from the 1940s. From Glen Miller and Tommy Dorsey to The Pipers and Friends to Sinatra to Jo Stafford to King Cole Trio to Fletcher Henderson, and each of those in common and in their distribution sold millions of records and played to thousands of listeners in their concerts. I’m worried that we’re losing art and its values.*
They talk about Charlie Haden Quartet West’s upcoming Finnish concert. Charlie loves Finland. The people are warm. The Finns like beauty and jazz and have always treated him well.
The rest of the cassette contains a dub of Cuban guitarist, singer, and revolutionary songwriter Carlos Puebla’s 1976 album Soy Del Pueblo, recorded in Finland.
Charlie Haden and Ruth Cameron interviewed by Markku Salo.
Finnish Radio Broadcasting Co.
First air date: 23 April 2001
Recorded to cassette.
Broadcast contains excerpts of songs from:
Ruth Cameron: “Detour Ahead” (Herb Ellis, John Frigo, Lou Carter) Roadhouse (2000, Verve)
Charlie Haden Quartet West (with Bill Henderson, vocalist): “Why Did I Choose You” (Herbert Martin, Michael Leonard) The Art Of The Song (1999, Verve)
Charlie Haden Quartet West (with Jo Stafford vocal sample): “Alone Together” (Arthur Schwartz, Howard Dietz) Always Say Goodbye (1994, Verve)
Charlie Haden: “Nightfall” (Charlie Haden) Nocturne (2001, Verve)
Cassette from the collection of Charlie Haden
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