1982 at university, summer's afternoon, listening to music in a friends room and we just finished listening to some of Nick Drake's Fruit Tree boxset when someone put on Liberation Music Orchestra's Ballad Of The Fallen. The sheer emotional heft of the music, its rootedness (Charlie's bass I realise now) and the tunes were like nothing I'd heard before ( Haden's writing/Carla's arrangements) - all that marvellous brass.
Upon reading the sleeve and recognising the political content - we were very aware of the situation in El Salvador and Nicaragua at the time - it all fell into place. Songs from the Spanish Civil war resonated with recent readings of Orwell and Laurie Lee .Until then Jazz had meant little to me, a few Ben Webster and Art Tatum records of a friend's father. Ballad Of the Fallen opened up so many new avenues down which I continue to roam inquisitively