I think life is really hard sometimes. It's not easy to wake up every day and go through what you go through. But the beautiful moments that you share with people that you love, or even experience alone, are worth all of the pain and sorrow. Those moments should be cherished, and I think that's what music is all about-to remind people of the beautiful moments that are in everybody's life
Charlie HadenI told my students the other day in class, which is about the spirituality and creativity as much as it is about music. I said, 'If you're walking down the street and you see a baby carriage, and there's a baby in the carriage; you look down and your eyes meet the eyes of the baby. The baby looks at you: That's the kind of moment you're in when you're playing.
Charlie HadenI think itโs very important to live in the present. One of the great things that improvising teaches you is the magic of the moment that youโre in โฆ because when you improvise youโre in right now. Youโre not in yesterday or tomorrowโyouโre right in the moment. Being in that moment really gives you a perspective of life that you never get at any other time as far as learning about your egoโฆ You have to see your unimportance before you can see your importance and your significance to the world.
Charlie HadenI learned at a very young age that music teaches you about life. When you're in the midst of improvisation, there is no yesterday and no tomorrow โ there is just the moment that you are in. In that beautiful moment, you experience your true insignificance to the rest of the universe. It is then, and only then, that you can experience your true significance.
Charlie HadenCreative Arts raise a person to another level of consciousness as if you could imagine life before words.
Charlie HadenI always felt that I was born in the wrong era. I wanted to be friends with John Garfield, for instance. He was one of the only actors that refused to testify in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee back when the Hollywood Ten blacklist was happening in the McCarthy period. I wish I could've been friends with Charlie Parker and played with him. That's my period. I feel real close to the '40s - and actually I was born in '37, so I was a kid singing on the radio in the '40s. But I always dreamed of going to big cities.
Charlie Haden