Revered jazz bass player Charlie Haden died on Friday at the age of 76. One of the hallmarks of his illustrious career (in which he won four Grammys) was his eclecticism, his ability to play with a wide variety of artists, a list that included musicians as disparate as Keith Jarrett, Ornette Coleman, Ginger Baker and Norah Jones. In the early 1980s, through his children’s listening habits, Haden became interested in the burgeoning American rock scene, including Meat Puppets and Black Flag.

In 1984 he booked seminal San Pedro punk pioneers Minutemen as an opening act at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica. During the set he came out and joined the trio for “Little Man With a Gun in His Hand” from their hastily recorded EP Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat.
 

 
The above picture comes from Mike Watt’s website; Watt’s caption reads, “santa monica, ca - 1984 / (from left) d. boon, charlie haden and mike watt (behind) / at mc cabes’. charlie jammed w/us in the tune ‘little man w/a gun in his hand.’”

This video comes from the never-released SST video Corndogs!, the only copy of which was stolen out of a van before it could be sent to the duplication plant—bootlegs of various bits have floated around for decades now. The quality of the video is pretty shitty, especially in visual terms, but even though the sound isn’t great, the overall effect still makes for pleasurable listening to my ears.
 

 
Here is a longer version of the same video, front-loaded with three other songs (“Two Beads At The End,” “Nothing Indeed,” “No Exchange”)—“Little Man With a Gun in His Hand” comes at the end.