Charlie Haden

"You have to see your unimportance before you can see your importance and your significance to the wold," Haden told Fresh Air's Terry Gross in 1992. The bassist died on July 11.

Bassist Charlie Haden is known as a great jazz musician, but his lineage is all country: Growing up, he performed alongside his brothers and sister in the Haden Family Band, a country group led by parents, Carl and Virginia.

Next week (Aug 6) jazz bassist Charlie Haden turns 65. As a child he sang with his family on their country music radio show. Later he worked with Ornette Coleman when Colemans music created controversy and sometimes provoked a violent response by listeners. Haden has also worked with Art Pepper, and Paul Bley, and he's recorded with many artists including Abbey Lincoln, Bill Frisell, Joshua Redman, Rick Lee Jones, and more. Hadens own groups include the Liberation Music Orchestra and Quartet West which he formed to play music of the 1940s and early 50s.

Ornette Coleman died Thursday, at the age of 85. Listen to a pair of conversations with the saxophonist and composer, as well as interviews with members of his quartet — Don Cherry and Charlie Haden — and his son, Denardo Coleman.