The legendary jazz bassist, composer and political activist Charlie Haden has died at the age of 76. In the late 1950s, Haden played in Ornette Coleman’s groundbreaking quartet, which changed the shape and sound of jazz. Over the years, Haden won countless music awards and played with many other jazz greats, including John Coltrane, Don Cherry and Archie Shepp. He also emerged as one of the jazz world’s most politically outspoken musicians. During the middle of the Vietnam War, he and Carla Bley formed the Liberation Music Orchestra. The group’s debut album mixed songs from the Spanish Civil War, antiwar songs and a tribute to Che Guevera. In 1971, he was jailed in Portugal for dedicating a song to the black liberation movements of Mozambique and Angola. In 2006 Haden re-formed the Liberation Music Orchestra in response to the Bush administration and the invasion of Iraq, titling his accompanying album “Not In Our Name.” In an interview with Democracy Now! that year, Haden discussed his life’s work.

Charlie Haden: “I’ve been so lucky to play with great musicians, most of whom I wanted to play with and I sought out when I was in my younger stages, and, you know, I wouldn’t do anything different, except I would seek out as many musicians to life the way I am and dedicated to beauty the way I am, because it’s not really about categories, like jazz, it’s about beautiful music and playing music from all over the world with other musicians who are dedicated, because it’s up to us to bring beauty back into this world. It’s up to people in the arts, the painters, the writers, the composers, the dance troupes, everybody, the actors, the people who write poetry. You know, it’s up to us to try to make a difference in this world and try to make this planet a better to live for all the human beings and stop the cruelty and the devastation that’s going on, you know, and have a great place.”