JAZZ : Saying Hello to Era That Is Goodby

There’s a note of truth in the title of bassist Charlie Haden’s upcoming recording, “Always Say Goodbye” (Verve). The Los Angeles resident says “goodby” often in his travels across the country and to Europe, giving concerts and seminars individually and with his Quartet West.

This week, for instance, will find him at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where he will be joined by other distinguished bassists--Dave Holland, Milt Hinton and Richard Davis--in a clinic on jazz history and the role of the bass.

For his part, Haden, 56, will discuss jazz as a music of protest and will conduct a student version of his Liberation Orchestra and choir in the kind of politically minded material that has made Haden’s large ensemble one of the most honored on the planet. On Saturday, he’ll be back in California, leading Quartet West at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

While the orchestra plays jazz arrangements of politically inspired music, European and Latin American folk songs and Haden originals, Quartet West has taken a more romantic view. The quartet’s new album will follow the format of the previous three, Haden says.

“It seeks to evoke feelings of Los Angeles during the ‘40s and ‘50s, and the days of film noir , Raymond Chandler, the art deco architecture and all the things that were part of the Los Angeles culture in that time period,” he says.

What results is a romantic mix of ballads, be-bop and originals from Haden and pianist Alan Broadbent that mirror a time since lost. Rounding out the quartet are saxophonist Ernie Watts and drummer Larance Marable.

“We want to touch people’s lives,” says Haden, “in a way that causes them to think of that era which was more peaceful, deeper, and more meaningful. I’m not saying that that period was better than this one, but it’s a time that is deeply fascinating to me. We’re not dwelling on the past, but playing in the present, inspired by the depth of that period and its emotions.

“Quartet West is also about the improvised art form of jazz,” continues Haden, who was born in Iowa and traveled with his family’s country band before moving to Los Angeles as a teen-ager. “When we play together, magical things happen.”

Who: Charlie Haden’s Quartet West.

When: Saturday, Feb. 5, at 8 p.m.

Where: The Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Centre Drive, Costa Mesa.

Whereabouts: San Diego (405) Freeway to Bristol Avenue exit north, turn right onto Town Center Drive.

Wherewithal: $12 to $30.

Where to call: (714) 556-2787.