Forerunner

Ornette Coleman (alto sax), Don Cherry (pocket trumpet), Charlie Haden (bass) and Billy Higgins (drums). From the album Change of the Century (1960).

Charlie Hader was an American jazz bassist, composer and music teacher whose musical career lasted more than fifty years, and who transformed the use of harmony in the double bass in jazz. Sometimes he complemented the soloist and other times played independently freeing himself from the accompaniment role to become another participant in the group improvisation. His technique was limited, but his warm and deep sound, and his capacity for expression were as intense as any other jazz double bass player.

Instead of focusing on speed and agility, Haden subtly explored the timbral possibilities of his instrument with a confident hand and a sensitive ear. He became interested in jazz at the age of 14 when he attended a concert by Charlie Parker and Stan Kenton. He moved to Los Angeles in 1957, where he made his first recordings with Paul Bley, with whom he worked until 1959. He also played with Art Pepper and Elmo Hope in 1957, and with Hampton Hawes in 1958 and 1959. In this last year he recorded with Ornette Coleman The Shape of Jazz to Come, the first of several transcendental albums in the birth and development of free jazz in which he also participated.

First the group plays a few lines, let Higgins make some drumrolls and repeat it again, but this second time Higgins extends more in his intervention, and the group sounds again. The first to enter is Coleman at a chilling speed inspired by blues and gospel. His phrases are unstoppable and overwhelming introducing strange effects. He is followed firmly by Cherry, who presents an unusual and daring discourse full of twists and turns while Haden holds the tempo steady. To finish, the band does the same as at the beginning.