Haden Devotes Some Riffs to Old-Time Los Angeles

Bassist Charlie Haden’s best-known jazz roots go back to the late ‘50s, when he began experimenting with alternative modes of improvising and hooked up with like-minded saxophonist Ornette Coleman and other musicians on the fringe. But Haden also feels strong ties to the Los Angeles of the 1930s and ‘40s.

This is especially true of Haden’s work with his Quartet West, which opens three nights at Elario’s in La Jolla on Friday.

“The Quartet West is real special,” Haden said. “The albums we’ve done have been focused on the culture in Los Angeles that most people don’t appreciate. I have this love for the art that was happening in L.A. in the ‘30s and ‘40s, the great film music written by Max Steiner, who scored Bogart movies, and others, when movies were consistently great. Raymond Chandler is a favorite; we’ve got quotes from him on both album covers.”

The quartet, including Haden, Larance Marable on drums, Ernie Watts on sax and Alan Broadbent on piano, released its last album, “In Angel City,” in 1988.

Since then, Haden has put his subtle, moody sound and prodigious composing abilities into a tremendous variety of projects. This year alone, he’s been on David Sanborn’s television program with his Liberation Music Orchestra; recorded an album with Abbey Lincoln, Jackie McLean, Clark Terry and Billy Higgins; another album with the orchestra; plus the just-released “Time on My Hands,” a session led by guitarist John Scofield.

Last month, Haden played Italy with Coleman and the saxophonist’s original ‘50s and ‘60s quartet, including Don Cherry and Billy Higgins.

Haden doesn’t look much over 40, which he attributes to exercise and a good diet since he gave up some bad habits in the ‘60s; but at 52, he’s a seasoned master.

He worked with saxman Art Pepper and pianist Hampton Hawes in the ‘50s. Also during the ‘50s, he studied with master classical bassist Herman Rheinschagen, who taught Charles Mingus.

“His aura had an effect on me,” Haden said, recalling Rheinschagen. “He was really a wonderful player, and he had a lot of dedication. He had played under Toscanini for many years. He was as serious as you can be in an art form. He had a house in Los Angeles filled with art, books, recordings. He had a music room, and in every corner was a wonderful bass he had purchased over the years.

“He asked me to play for him every time I went there; then I would ask him to play for me. That was the lesson. I would just listen and he would play Bach and different composers that had been transcribed from bass to cello.”

Haden continued to work with Coleman through the ‘60s. With his Liberation Music Orchestra, he explored political themes, and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1970 for this work. The next year he was arrested for speaking out against the Portuguese government from the stage of a jazz festival there.

At Elario’s, shows begin at 9, 10:30 and midnight on Friday and Saturday, and at 8:30 and 10 on Sunday. Admission is $5.

Some of the area’s top jazz artists will play weekend afternoons at the San Diego Convention Center during a summer outdoor festival organized by the center’s new talent coordinator, Robb Huff. The series opens May 20 with performances by America’s Finest City Jazz Band, from 10:30-11:30 a.m., and MiraCosta College Jazz Band, from noon-3 p.m. The free concerts will be in the amphitheater behind the center.

The new “A View from the Edge” album by Checkfield, a San Diego light jazz-new age-folk-pop band, is getting a good push from the band’s label, American Gramaphone. The April 21 issue of Billboard carried a full-page ad, under the bold headline “The California Sound of the ‘90s.” “I don’t write this stuff,” said Checkfield co-leader John Archer. The label has released the song “Hitchhiker” as a CD single to Adult Contemporary radio stations. Archer and partner Ron Satterfield are putting together a band for Checkfield’s first-ever live performances in October at the Catalina Jazz Festival and Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay. With the help of a well-programmed MIDI computer, Archer says they’ll come close to re-creating the album’s thick layers of studio sound.

RIFFS: Flutist Holly Hofmann plays Elario’s tonight with pianist Mike Wofford, bassist Bob Magnusson and drummer Jimmie Smith; Friday and Saturday nights, she’ll be joined by Wofford, Smith and bassist Gunnar Biggs at the Hyatt Regency in La Jolla. . . . Today through Saturday, Wofford holds down the noon to 3:30 p.m. solo piano slot at Cafe Lautrec, 7644 Girard Ave., La Jolla. Friday and Saturday nights, Wofford teams with clarinetist Bobby Gordon and pianist Bill Hunter in the Horton Grand Hotel’s Palace Bar. . . . In another departure from the norm for Elario’s, following last night’s scheduled performance by avant-garde jazz man Sun Ra, new talent coordinator Rob Hagey has booked singer Maria Muldaur for May 28. . . . Hagey is also finalizing the lineup for a summer series of Sunday brunch cruise concerts on San Diego Bay. The June 3 debut aboard The Entertainer showcases Special EFX and Deborah Henson-Conant. . . . Light-jazz keyboards man Tom Grant hits the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach next Wednesday. . . . Saxophonist Hollis Gentry plays the B Street Cafe & Bar in downtown San Diego tonight; Friday, it’s singer T. Fox with the Fox City Band; Saturday, light-jazz artists MVP. . . . Sunday night from 7 to 8, KSDS-FM’s (88.3) “Le Jazz Club” program focuses on Louis Armstrong, with commentary and hot ‘20s recordings featuring Johnny Dodds, Lil Hardin, Earl Hines, Jimmy Strong and others. . . . Fattburger plays next Wednesday’s “Jazz Trax” nite in the Catamaran’s Cannibal Bar. . . . Guitarist Herb Ellis is featured on KPBS-TV’s “Club Date” jazz program Saturday night at 11, with a repeat Monday night at 11:30.