Ornette Coleman Plays For The White House

Opening song: “A Love Like This” (Ned Washington, Victor Young), from Charlie Haden Quartet West’s Sophisticated Ladies (2010, Universal France).

Today’s Great Reading in History©: Plato, from The Republic (375 B.C.; Critical Theory Since Plato, Revised Edition, ed. Hazard Adams, 1992. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc).

It is Sunday, August 2nd, 2026. Despite making threats and promises, President Trump has not bombed Iran for the past seven days. The average U.S. gas price has been stable at $4.10 per gallon. In other news, The U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Fox television host Jeanine Pirro, dropped Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool vandalism charges against 67 year old David Hearn, admitting to a judge that President Trump’s accusations against the former Olympian were lies.

I normally use this forum to post interesting audio discoveries from my father, jazz bassist Charlie Haden’s, archives. I’ve been sorting through what has become box 78. It’s a large translucent plastic storage container with a white lid. Most of the material is sheet music, both commercial, mostly classical music, and original music written my Charlie and others. There are also a lot of knickknacks including an LG Verizon flip phone, a 2008 “Cellboost” phone battery charger still in original packaging, a full container of OraLabs Ice Drops, an all access backstage pass for Neil Young + Promise of the Real Rebel Content Tour 2015, an address book, empty wallets, a pair of sunglasses, business cards, and Charlie’s expired U.S. passport from 1983. One of the music sheets led me to a performance I was never aware of before now. On June 18, 1978, Ornette Coleman and his son Denardo performed the song “Earth Souls” on stage at President Jimmy Carter’s White House Jazz Festival, which took place on the South Lawn of the White House, with the president and first lady in attendance. Can the podcast listener imagine anything like that happening under President Trump? Let’s imagine the President Trump Jazz Festival. Who would play at it? Kid Rock, Vanilla Ice, and a guy who sits on a toilet posting to YouTube. Jimmy Carter invited Ornette Coleman, Max Roach, John Lewis, and McCoy Tyner, and they all accepted.

Ornette Coleman and Denardo Coleman

Washington, D.C.

White House Jazz Festival

18 June 1978

Ornette Coleman: Saxophone

Denardo Coleman: Drums

Track listing:

1. Introduction by President Jimmy Carter

2. Earth Souls

3. Meta

Recorded for Jazz Alive, hosted by Billy Taylor

Broadcast on WAMU-FM, Washington D.C.

The entire program can be found here (YouTube).

In this Substack podcast I listen to albums and cassettes from the collection of my father, the late jazz bassist Charlie Haden. If you like what you hear, please consider subscribing. The address is joshhaden.substack.com.

Check out Charlie’s record collection.

Check out select Charlie Haden Estate items from my eBay store.

All words & images © 2026 by Josh Haden, except where noted. All rights reserved.

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