Modern Jazz Quartet's John Lewis On Ornette Coleman
My substack work has been preempted by a very necessary task: putting my father’s estate in order.
After probate on his second wife Ruth Cameron’s estate was completed late last year, I discovered that his song catalog had been neglected. My father composed or co-wrote over a hundred songs. Tracks like “Silence”, “Song For Che”, “Sandino”, “First Song”, and many others. While not Billboard 200 chart-toppers, they’re important to the history of jazz. They need to be preserved.
Charlie’s longtime, now-retired music attorney, Fred Ansis, who thankfully volunteered to help lead me out of this darkness, advised me to prepare for a long process that would entail frequent frustration and require a certain amount of patience. Two months later, I’m not finished. The amount of red tape is formidable, and the willingness, or ability, of some business entities to cooperate in a timely matter is sometimes in short supply.
One positive result is that I’ve become much more knowledgeable about my father’s work. Since I haven’t had much time think about longer posts, I’ve taken to Twitter, Facebook, and Substack Notes to post daily Charlie music links.
One of these is Atlantic Records’ 1973 2LP set The Jazz Years, a compilation celebrating the 25th anniversary of Atlantic’s jazz catalog. Included is Ornette Coleman’s “Una Muy Bonita”, a track from the original quartet’s second album, 1960’s Change Of The Century.
This comp has been out of print since its release (with the exception of a 2017 Japanese CD reissue), and I wanted to find a streaming version to attach to my post. YouTube user “Ricordo Bruno” created a playlist of all the songs. Artists as diverse as Shorty Rogers, Ray Charles, Art Blakey, John Coltrane, Mose Allison, and Charles Lloyd are represented.
The entry for the Modern Jazz Quartet’s “The Golden Striker” isn’t the original 1957 version that appears on the album. It’s a clip from a live 1961 MJQ appearance on Jazz Casual, a TV show hosted by music critic (and Rolling Stone Magazine co-founder) Ralph Gleason from 1961-1968. MJQ pianist John Lewis responds to a question from Gleason about the future of jazz. Lewis’ answer: Ornette Coleman. It’s a fascinating statement on free jazz in real time. Lewis compares Ornette to James Joyce and Dylan Thomas, and says, compared to Ornette, MJQ’s roots are found in the 19th Century. I won’t spoil the rest of it, but if you’re interested in jazz history you should definitely check it out.
My father loved John Lewis. MJQ was a major influence on him, both in his formative L.A. years, and later, when he formed Quartet West.
I’m so happy a partially unrelated quest has pointed me to this slice of my father’s musical legacy, something I most likely would never have seen otherwise. I’ve edited the short piece to view above. If you’d like to watch the entire 11 minute video, which includes MJQ’s performance of “The Golden Striker”, along with the rest of the interview, it’s on YouTube here.
My name’s Josh Haden. I’m the son of the late jazz bassist Charlie Haden. Thanks for reading my Substack. If you like it, feel free to subscribe. Better yet, please consider a paid subscription. You’ll be able to support and follow me as I write my Mémoire, a book about life, death, jazz, slowcore, and survival.