Given the unmistakeable stench of revolution in the air (and I don’t just mean in Iran, even the Guardian were calling for it here in the UK), now seemed to be a good occasion for an assembling of Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra. As he explained at the start of the show, he first felt compelled to put the band together to make an album under that old charmer Nixon. The next time he made one Reagan was in charge, then Bush Sr, then Bush Jr. “Well, don’t make another one then”, someone yelled from the crowd, amusingly mixing cause and effect. Well, maybe he should quickly make another one, ditching the Spanish/Central American/South African themes, and going for one with with lyrics entirely in Farsi.

And on the subject of impeccable timing: support band The Bad Plus. There is nothing revolutionary about them, but they are exceptional musicians, with extraordinary levels of intuition for each other’s playing. They played a wide-ranging set which encompassed pieces by Stravinsky and Ligeti – I’m sure they used to do rock covers; how they’ve changed. They also arranged Ornette Coleman’s “Song X” for their piano trio format, with pianist Ethan Iverson and exhibitionist drummer Dave King thoroughly intertwining their shifting melodic and rhythmic lines (of course I’d seen them do that before as part of the band Buffalo Collision a few months ago). The last piece they played was the stunning “Giant”, written by bass player Reid Anderson, and it featured one of his epic repeated motifs, over which Iverson floated some gorgeous slow melodies. After the show Iverson and King were signing stuff down in the foyer. I didn’t want anything signed, but I did stop by to thank Ethan and Dave for the funniest thing I’ve read all year: this.

Next up at Ornette Coleman’s Meltdown, during which Ornette Coleman had appeared on stage every night, we had Charlie Haden, the legendary bass player from Ornette Coleman’s game-changing quartet. So when, we were wondering, was Ornette Coleman going to show up? It turns out the band were wondering the same thing too, listening out for word from the wings (“he is still at the hotel”…”he is on his way”), and rearranging set lists on the fly to accommodate. It was a little distracting from the music they played, which was very fine indeed. The band for the event comprised some core Haden collaborators, including a painfully thin-looking Carla Bley on piano and arrangement duties, as well as some A-list London musicians – the angular solos of Jason Yarde and the fiery excursions by Shabaka Hutchings provided some of the evening’s improvisational peaks.

The set started with the opening trio from last album Not In Our Name, with Bley’s “Blue Anthem” a standout, followed by a lengthy version of “Amazing Grace”. A real special moment followed with a rare appearance by Robert Wyatt, who received the warmest of receptions as he joined the band for a pair of Cuban songs: the Silvio Rodriguez number “Tale Of The Tornado” and then “Song For Che” from the first Liberation Music Orchestra album. Wyatt sang in Spanish, whistled, hummed and added his trumpet to the already eight-strong brass and woodwind ensemble. The latter piece featured one of Haden’s monumental bass solos, in which he wrapped up the song’s theme amongst other figures that seemed to hint at his past glories in Ornette’s band, almost as if paying tribute to…again, where was that man? Haden even killed some more time by telling some jokes, but eventually they were forced to launch into “Skies Of America” without Ornette. He finally appeared at the event’s close, not to play, but just to share an emotional onstage hug with his longtime musical partner. We never did find out what kept him from playing, but having seen the effort this 79 year-old man put into his performance last night, I couldn’t blame him if he was just too bloody knackered. Ornette fought in his own jazz revolution many years ago; he has earned the right to pick and choose his battles now.

[PixGremlin has some great shots from the soundcheck here]