Jazz Legend Charlie Haden Pays Tribute To Beauty. By Sean Murphy WHILE TUCSON MAY never be known as a Mecca for live jazz, we're about to be blessed with an unprecedented musical event. When the Verve Jazzfest pulls into town on Saturday, January 11, the stage of UA Centennial Hall will be loaded with more talented jazz musicians than we've seen in decades. In addition to saxophone legend Joe Henderson's trio, the bill will also feature an all-star band comprised of musicians seen in the Robert Altman film Kansas City. Among those touring with the band will be clarinetist Don Byron and sax phenom James Carter (each could create quite a stir appearing solo). Rounding out the evening's entertainment will be bassman Charlie Haden's Quartet West, perhaps the finest traditional jazz quartet currently playing. Each group is slated to play a full hour-long set in what will be an acoustic jazz lover's night of magic. Of all the musicians performing at the Jazzfest, perhaps none is busier in a more eclectic variety of projects than Charlie Haden. The Quartet (featuring Haden on bass, Alan Broadbent on piano, Ernie Watts on tenor sax and Larance Marable on drums) just released its fifth CD, Now is the Hour, containing an hour's worth of lushly beautiful music. In addition to recording and touring with the Quartet, Haden has appeared, or is appearing, on recordings by rock drummer Ginger Baker, alt-rock genius Beck, blues titan James Cotton and jazz guitarist Pat Metheny, to name but a few. Despite his increasingly hectic schedule, Haden graciously took time out to be interviewed about the Quartet and the Jazzfest tour. Haden's entire life has revolved around music. Born into a musical family, he sang on his parents country music television show in Omaha, Nebraska, until he came down with polio. "It paralyzed the nerve to the left side of my face and my throat and my vocal cords," Haden tells me from his home in Los Angeles. "So I couldn't talk for several months. And when I got my voice back, I didn't have any range." While his parents instilled a love and knowledge of rural folk music in him (they counted the Carter Family, Hank Williams and Jimmie Rodgers among their friends), Haden also fostered a love of jazz, particularly the deep, rich bass tones and creative soloing of Walter Page, Duke Ellington bassman Wellman Braud and another Ellington bassist, Jimmy Blanton. "He was a big influence on me--the way that he approached the instrument as a voice and not so much an instrument," Haden says. After high school, he caught a bus to Los Angeles and eventually became a member of Ornette Coleman's ground-breaking quartet. As Coleman was challenging the emphasis on melody in jazz, Haden was redefining the role of the bass. By incorporating elements of the rural folk music of his youth with his love for the instrument's lower register, Haden took the jazz bass from merely being a timekeeper to being a unique, individual solo voice (check out "Ramblin' " on Coleman's Change of the Century album for a fine example). After he left Coleman's quartet, Haden rarely stayed inactive, playing with Alice Coltrane, Keith Jarrett, Coleman alumni Old & New Dreams and a host of others. Perhaps most impressive was his forming of the Liberation Music Orchestra with arranger Carla Bley in 1969. Combining the freedom of collective improvisation with Bley's big band arrangements, the orchestra had a decidedly political outlook, championing the rights of the oppressed around the globe. The early '80s saw Haden moving back to Los Angeles where, at the urging of his wife, Ruth Cameron, he formed the Quartet West. "Ruth and I decided to get all these guys together and play a gig," Haden says "The place was sold out, and everyone said this was a great sound and that we should do an album. We did our first in '86, now we just did our fifth." The quartet's music recalls the Los Angeles of the '40s and '50s, particularly elements found in other art forms, primarily photography, film and literature. Haden says this is a deliberate nod to the arts. "The music comes from all directions, and it's a conscious desire to want to include as many of the arts as we can, because I think art is so important to life and to children and to everybody," Haden says. "It's a conscious effort on our part to try to present the music surrounded by art." That a Quartet West album sounds like it could be the soundtrack to a lost Bogart film or Raymond Chandler novel has led to Haden and the Quartet being called "jazz noir," a not altogether inaccurate label With the release of Now is the Hour, Haden and the Quartet continue a theme that has been consistent throughout all of his career--the inherent beauty of music. "I've always felt that I have to give back what I've been given, and I really appreciate that I've been given the gift of music. I appreciate beauty when it comes to appreciating life and being thankful that I'm alive and giving back the gift," Haden says. Should one mistake the quartet for being overly sedate, they can swing as hard as anyone, with frequent nods to bop legends Bud Powell and, especially, Charlie Parker. "Yeah, he's one of my favorite musicians of all time and it's just my way of, you know, because I missed out playing with him, I got to make up for it." Outspoken in his disdain for jazz nightclubs, Haden is happy with the venue selections on the Jazzfest dates. "A long tour like this is possible in Europe usually, but not in the states," he says. "In the states, as an acoustic jazz band, it's hard to generate enough income to play theaters only. You've got to play some jazz clubs. There aren't any on this tour, and I'm real happy about that." As for future hopes for live jazz in America, Haden says, "I'm hoping the art form of jazz will keep gaining more respect and appreciation among more and more people, so that it can be presented in great theaters with great acoustics and great sound systems; and be presented on network television without having pop stars part of it in order to boost ratings. I don't ever worry about the musicians and the music, because there's always going to be somebody born that's got a passion to improvise. "This word 'jazz' means something very deep to me," Haden says, "and the people who make it what it is are the people who've made music their life, giving their life for the art form. Charlie Parker and Art Tatum and Coleman Hawkins, musicians like that have made this music the deep and wonderful and beautiful music that can enhance your life and make this planet better. As long as there are musicians born with depth in their souls, sensitivity in their beings and appreciation and humility in their lives, this art form will keep flourishing." The music most certainly will keep flourishing if even a tenth of Haden's wisdom and humility is maintained by the next generation of jazz players. The Verve Jazzfest, featuring The Joe Henderson Trio, The Kansas City All-Stars and Charlie Haden's Quartet West, takes the stage at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, January 11, at UA Centennial Hall. Tickets are $16, $24 and $32, available at the Centennial Hall and Dillard's box offices. Call 1-800-638-4253 for reservations and information.

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