Charlie Haden obit

CHARLIE HADEN, the towering jazz figure who led the groundbreaking Liberation Music Orchestra and the elegant Quartet West as well as playing bass alongside Ornette Coleman and Keith Jarrett, died today after a prolonged illness. He was 77. The Iowa-born Haden was already a polished musician when he moved to L.A. in 1956 at the age of 19, whereupon he hooked up with pianist Hampton Hawes and saxophonists Art Pepper and Dexter Gordon before becoming a member of Ornette’s trailblazing free-jazz quartet. After playing in Jarrett’s quartet, Haden formed the politically charged LMO and the Ornette-inspired Old and New Dreams with Dewey Redman, Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell. He launched Quartet West in 1986, appeared as a sideman on albums by numerous top-flight jazz and pop artists and won three Grammys. Haden is survived by his wife, son Josh (leader of the band Spain) and daughters Tanya, Petra and Rachel (the Haden Triplets, that dog). (7/11p)