Charlie Haden

You learn something new everyday, man! (According to the book "Like Young", ending a sentence like this is the great Jazz bassist Charlie Haden's mannerism :P BTW, since my Palm was broken, I went back to reading "hard copy" books during commute. This is one interesting book on jazz. The author, Francis Davis, provided a lot of his insights.) I wrote this after his concert in HK. And I was so puzzled by his use of a big clear plastic "wall" separating himself from the rest of the band. Now I finally realized it's because he has hyperacousis (extreme sensitivity to loud sound)

Also new and interesting to me is that he's anti-Republican, a so-called leftist. Now it's clear to me what the name of his band, Liberation Music Orchestra, stands for. In fact, this band only releases new music during a Republican administration! He wrote a song called "Song for Che." Go figure! Even more surprising is that my idol on piano, Bill Evans "The Introspective", actually opposed to Haden's political views. Evans once told Haden he thought US troops should go to Vietnam.