Liberation Music Orchestra (album)

Liberation Music Orchestra is a jazz album by Charlie Haden released in 1969, Haden's first as leader.

The inspiration for the album came when Haden heard songs from the Spanish Civil War. He included three of those songs on the album (the trilogy "El Quinto Regimiento", "Los Cuatro Generales", and "Viva la Quince Brigada", which are old Spanish folk songs given new words during the war.

Other tracks on the album include Ornette Coleman's "War Orphans", which Haden had played with Coleman in 1967, three pieces by Carla Bley, who also contributed much of the arranging, two of Haden's own compositions, one dedicated to Che Guevara and one inspired by the 1968 National Convention of the U.S. Democratic Party:
 * "After the minority plank on Vietnam was defeated in a vote taken on the convention floor, the California and New York delegations spontaneously began to sing 'We Shall Overcome' [the last track on the album] in protest. Unable to gain control of the floor, the rostrum instructed the convention orchestra to drown out the singing.  'You're a Grand Old Flag' and 'Happy Days Are Here Again' could then be heard trying to stifle 'We Shall Overcome'.  To me this told the story, in music, of what was happening in our country politically." (Charlie Haden, original liner notes)

In "Circus '68 '69" the musicians are thus divided into two bands in recreation of the events on the convention floor.

The Liberation Music Orchestra's next album, The Ballad of the Fallen, didn't appear until 1983.


 * See also: Liberation Music Orchestra

Track listing
LP side A: "Los Cuatro Generales" ("The Four Generals") (trad., arr. Bley) "Viva la Quince Brigada" ("Long Live the Fifteenth Brigade") (melody trad., words Bart Van Derschelling) – 20:58 LP side B:
 * 1) "The Introduction" (Bley) / "Song of the United Front" (Brecht, Eisler) – 3:07
 * 2) "El Quinto Regimiento" ("The Fifth Regiment") (trad., arr. Bley)
 * 1) "The Ending to the First Side" (Bley) – 2:07
 * 1) "Song for Ché" (Haden) – 9:29
 * 2) "War Orphans" (Coleman) – 6:42
 * 3) "The Interlude (Drinking Music)" (Bley) – 1:24
 * 4) "Circus '68 '69" (Haden) – 6:10
 * 5) "We Shall Overcome" (Horton, Hamilton, Carawan, Seeger) 1:19

Personnel

 * Perry Robinson &mdash; clarinet
 * Gato Barbieri &mdash; tenor saxophone, clarinet
 * Dewey Redman &mdash; alto saxophone, tenor saxophone
 * Don Cherry &mdash; cornet, flute, Indian wood & bamboo flutes (3,5)
 * Michael Mantler &mdash; trumpet
 * Roswell Rudd &mdash; trombone
 * Bob Northern &mdash; French horn, hand wood blocks, crow call, bells, military whistle
 * Howard Johnson &mdash; tuba
 * Sam Brown &mdash; guitar, Tanganyikan guitar, thumb piano (1,3-7)
 * Carla Bley &mdash; piano, tambourine
 * Charlie Haden &mdash; bass
 * Paul Motian &mdash; drums, percussion
 * Andrew Cyrille &mdash; drums, percussion (8)