I had to remind myself to breath

"Just heard the New Quartet, with Jason Moran, Rueben Rogers, and Eric Harland here in Buffalo -- right in front of him, about 20 feet away... Inspiring, astonishing, stunning! I had to remind myself to breath from time to time. 2011 is young, but it's gonna be hard to top this performance this year! Anyways..."

Discuss…

Click here to join the discussion on SaxOnTheWeb.

Taking Jazz Eastward at Lincoln Center

"All in all, a great night of music by one of the best working quartets going today. The group sidestepped expectations at every turn while displaying a chemistry that was as unique as the leader himself."

Click here for the full review at spinner.com.

Charles Lloyd Quartet @ Nate Holden P.A.C.

Sax spirituality

"There isn’t much in the way of gut bucket growling in a Lloyd solo, but there is an intellect there that causes the horn to weave through the sonic tapestry like a fine gold thread dipping and diving through a fabric on the loom, a bit of audio weft binding together the aural warp provided by his fellow musicians…"

Click here for the full review at Buffalo News.

Tenderness Sutras - Mirror at the WSJ

"…no overabundance of notes, no conceptual clutter. Mr. Lloyd's playing on tenor (and, on one track, alto) saxophone is breathy and ribbon-like when squiggling to or from a melodic line; firmly formed yet transparent, like the surface of a pool, on long tones. The music is frequently meditative and for the most part concisely phrased. Yet there's a demanding fullness and intensity to his emotional outpouring through the album's dozen tracks, the sort that frequently anticipates uplift."

Click here for the full review of Mirror at the Wall Street Journal.

Charles Lloyd Fall Winter Concert Schedule

November 11th - Theatre de Caen, Caen, France Charles Lloyd - Sky Trio with Reuben Rogers and Eric Harland

November 12th - L'Apostrophe, Cergy Pontoise, France Charles lloyd - Sky Trio with Reuben Rogers and Eric Harland

November 13th - Teatro Central, Sevilla, Spain Charles Lloyd New Quartet with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, and Eric Harland

November 14th - Teatro Isabel La Católica, Granada, Spain Charles Lloyd New Quartet with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, and Eric Harland

November 16th - Auditori Salle Oriol Martorell, Barcelona, Spain Charles Lloyd New Quartet with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, and Eric Harland

November 17th - The Barbican, London Jazz Festival Charles Lloyd New Quartet with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, and Eric Harland
November 18th - Guimares Jazz Festival, Guimares, Portugal Charles Lloyd New Quartet with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, and Eric Harland

November 20th - Teatro Verdi, Padova Jazz Festival, Padova, Italy Charles Lloyd New Quartet with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, and Eric Harland

November 23rd - Mufthalle, Munich Germany Charles Lloyd New Quartet with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, and Eric Harland

November 25th - Auditorium, University of Medicin, Perugia, Italy Charles Lloyd New Quartet with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, and Eric Harland

November 27th - Wroclaw Jazz Festival, Wroclaw, Poland Charles Lloyd New Quartet with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, and Eric Harland

November 28th - Kultertage, Oldenburg, Germany Charles Lloyd New Quartet with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, and Eric Harland

November 30th - Fliegen Bauten, Hamburg Charles Lloyd New Quartet with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, and Eric Harland

December 2nd - Konzerthaus, Vienna, Austria Charles Lloyd New Quartet with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, and Eric Harland

Click here for the full itinerary at Charles Lloyd dot com.

Charles Lloyd's Calendar 2011

January 20th - Hopkins Center, Hannover, NH Charles Lloyd New Quartet with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, and Eric Harland

January 21st & 22nd - Regatta, Cambridge, MA Charles Lloyd New Quartet with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, and Eric Harland

January 23rd - Flynn Center, Burlington, VT Charles Lloyd New Quartet with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, and Eric Harland

January 26th - U Mass, Amberst, MA Charles Lloyd New Quartet with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, and Eric Harland

January 28th - Weslyan, Middletown, CT Charles Lloyd New Quartet with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, and Eric Harland

January 29th - Rose Hall, New York, NY Charles Lloyd New Quartet with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, and Eric Harland

January 30th - Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY Charles Lloyd New Quartet with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, and Eric Harland

June 3rd - Orchestra Hall, Chicago, IL Zakir Hussain & Charles Lloyd New Quartet

Click here for more information at Charles Lloyd dot com.

Jazz concert review: Charles Lloyd New Quartet at the Dakota

He knows bliss in the Atman
And wants nothing else.
Cravings torment the heart:
He renounces cravings.
I call him illumined.

For the final song in last night’s second set at the Dakota, Charles Lloyd pulled up a piano bench beside Jason Moran’s chair, brought the mic close, and quoted a lengthy section from Christopher Isherwood’s translation of the Bhagavad Gita from memory (portions above). It made perfect sense in an evening of musical meditation.

Click here for the full reviw at bebopified.

Charles Lloyd Quartet @ Yoshi’s

As the Charles Lloyd Quartet began the second half of a two-night engagement at Yoshi’s Oakland on Thursday evening, their music seemed to coalesce from nothing, gathering itself and rolling into the room like billowing fog from a gray, choppy sea. The house was packed to capacity, but Lloyd’s august presence seemed to radiate throughout the club, creating a sense of warmth and inner stillness that allowed his band’s surging creativity to burst forth.

This band – with the dazzling Jason Moran on piano, eloquent Reuben Rogers on bass and elemental Eric Harland on drums – is widely regarded as one of the heaviest combos in jazz, and they proved it time and again on this night. Focusing on music from their new ECM release, Mirror, the group found brought renewed vividness to Lloyd’s established repertoire of standards and originals, performing with fathomless depth, naked emotion and a profound sense of spirit.

Click here for the full review at The Jazz Observer.

Mirror - the call for some tenderness…

Charles Lloyd’s new album is a "need and the call for some tenderness…

The ambience and the material -- a collection of Lloyd originals, a few spirituals such as "Go Down Moses" and "The Water Is Wide," and a smattering of cover tunes (by Thelonious Monk and the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson) -- are similar to two other landmark Lloyd albums: 2000's "The Water Is Wide," a joint project with his dying friend, drummer Billy Higgins, and 2002's "Lift Every Voice," a response to the 9/11 tragedy.

The thread that connects them is "the need and the call for some tenderness," said Lloyd. But what really elevates "Mirror" is the exquisite synergy of his latest quartet, which might be the best working ensemble of his long career.

Click here for the full review of Mirror at The Star Tribune.

Discuss Charles Lloyd at Yoshi's

"The group played one standard, “I Fall in Love too Easily,” and one had the sense that the quartet was listening and communicating deeply. Some of the tunes seemed familiar, some were new to me. Two numbers go all the way back to Lloyd’s time with Chico Hamilton—“Passin’ Thru,” and “Forest Flower,” which was the finale. And who wouldn’t want to hear that? This was a very memorable evening!"

Click here to join the discussion.

New EPK out for Mirror.

Charles Lloyd and his "New Quartet" with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, and Eric Harland light up the ethers with transcendent music and commentary from Lloyd. "Mirror" Lloyd's latest recording for ECM will be released in the US on September 14, Germany and Switzerland September 17, UK September 29, France October 10

Order Mirror at downbeat.com

For advance purchase of Charles Lloyd Quartet "Mirror" go to Downbeat's featured CD (left of page).

Click here for downbeat.com.

Tim Price - The Importance of Charles Lloyd

Click here for the link.

Fall Tour Dates - Charles Lloyd New Quartet

September

22, 23 Yoshi's, Oakland, CA
24 Lobero Theatre, Santa Barbara, CA
25 Nate Holden Performing Arts Center, Los Angeles, CA
30 Dakota, Minneapolis, MN

October

2 Quebec City Jazz Festival, Quebec City, Canada

November

10 Caen, France
11 Cergy Pontoise, France
16 Auditori, Barcelona, Spain
17 The Barbican, London Jazz Festival
18 Guimares Jazz Festival, Guimares, Portugal
20 Padova Jazz Festival, Padova, Italy

25 Oldenburg, Germany
27 Wroclaw Jazz Festival, Wroclaw, Poland

December

2 Konzerthaus, Vienna, Austria

January 2011

20 Hopkins Center, Hannover, NH
21, 22 Regatta, Cambridge, MA
23 Flynn Center, Burlington, VT
26 U Mass, Amherst, MA
28 Weslyan, Middletown, CT
29 Rose Hall, New York, New York

June
3 Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Illinois

Mirror Released in September / October

Many critics have opined that Charles Lloyd’s ‘New Quartet’,
with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers and Eric Harland may be
the best of all his groups. The quartet’s previous release in this
line-up, the live-recorded ‘Rabo de Nube,’ met with across-the-
board approval and was voted #1 album of the year in both the
Critics and Readers Polls of JazzTimes..

‘Mirror,’ on ECM Records, is the first studio album by the
New Quartet and features beautiful, transformed versions of
favorites including both Lloyd originals and tunes Charles has
made his own over the years. There is a pair of Thelonious Monk
tunes, ‘Ruby, My Dear,’ and ‘Monk’s Mood,’ as well as hymns
and traditionals including ‘Go Down Moses,’ “Lift Every Voice
And Sing”, and ‘The Water Is Wide.” Lloyd covers Brian Wilson’s
‘Caroline, No,’ and plays a haunting version of the the standard
‘“I Fall In Love Too Easily.’ Lloyd originals include ‘Desolation
Sound,’ ‘Mirror,’ ‘Tagi’ (which includes a Bhagavad Gita inspired
spoken-word meditation by Lloyd) and “Being and Becoming”.

“Charles is playing really beautiful,” Ornette Coleman says, in
the documentary film ‘The Monk and the Mermaid.’ “ He’s
expressing the qualities of what we experience. Trying to make
a contribution to the quality of life, to do with knowledge.” The
knowledge, experience, and wisdom conveyed through Lloyd’s
tender saxophone soliloquies have drawn great musicians to
him over the decades, and contributed to a reputation as one
of the most insightful band leaders in all of jazz.

Release dates:
North America Septmember 14
Germany & Switzerland September 17
United Kingdom September 27
France October 10

Click here for the tour schedule.

Dreamer

"As the notes of Prayer floated across the auditorium, serenity seemed to settle on those assembled. When Lloyd spoke, it with his characteristic grace and humility. “We are honoured to be here. We don’t understand the planet or how they’ve worked the game out, but we still want to play this music,” he said."

Click here for the full review at Ausjazz Blog.

Sangam's Mystical Communion

"On Saturday evening, local duo Stephen Magnusson (on guitar) and Eugene Ball (trumpet) provided a luminous opening set for Sangam - the final headline act of the festival, and one of the most sublime musical performances I have ever had the privilege to witness.

Words simply cannot do justice to the experience of watching these three master musicians (Charles Lloyd, Zakir Hussain and Eric Harland) unite in a spirit of almost mystical communion. Instruments and musical roles were shared and exchanged; cultural traditions were explored, merged and transcended. Lloyd - on saxophone, flute, tarogato, piano and hand-held shakers that hissed like rattlesnakes - was the shaman at the centre of this spiritual force field, as Hussain's tablas engaged in an undulating dialogue with Harland's drums.

Towards the end of the set, the trio was joined by pianist Jason Moran and bassist Reuben Rogers, deepening the music's meditative undercurrent while propelling it towards a series of ecstatic climaxes.

Sangam means confluence, and this concert represented a profound (and profoundly uplifting) meeting of minds, hearts and souls. It was the perfect way to close a festival that has itself become a confluence of ideas, cultures and genres, bringing them together in an intoxicating program that manages to transcend style, eschew elitism and help foster new ways of listening."

Click here for the full review from the Brisbane Times.

Crowd-pleasers fill city with jazz vibe

"US saxophonist Charles Lloyd, 72, is a legendary figure in jazz. He brought three consummate sidemen from New York: pianist Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers on bass and drummer Eric Harland and all gave performances of near genius level. Lloyd's playing ranged from a hymnal sound to high velocity runs ending on unexpected notes in a constant flow of ideas, at times faintly echoing John Coltrane.

Click here for the full review at The Australian dot com.

Charles Lloyd New Quartet at Bruce Mason Centre

"There was something indefinable in Lloyd's warm yet sometimes emotionally distant tone that, in the lengthy opener, reached back beyond the obvious reference of John Coltrane to a sound which seemed ancient: the audible breath through the instrument and the sense of yearning and space ...

Within minutes Lloyd had captivated the respectful but enthusiastic audience - and the other players had yet to have their chance…"

Click here for the full review from the New Zealand Herald.

The Great Charles Lloyd

"How’s this for a plum assignment: photograph the Charles Lloyd Quartet in concert at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. Needless to say the place was packed and the concert was phenomenal. "

Click here for the full article at The Editor's Blog.

New Pix - 2009 New Quartet and Sangam

A collection of photographs from recent Sangam and Charles Lloyd New Quartet Tours.

Click here for the full gallery.

Metal Jazz reviews Ben Ingram vs. the State of Mississippi

The emotional peak hits on Sunday, when Darr's documentary "Ben Ingram vs. the State of Mississippi" screens. Ingram, Charles Lloyd's grandfather, was quite a rarity in the early 1900s -- a black man who owned 1,600 acres of Mississippi farmland. Through interviews and archival images of slave lists and Jim Crow signage, Darr sets up the climate that made Ingram's success so improbable, as Lloyd's aching saxophone etches the soundtrack. Then Darr brings down the hammer with the crossroads moment in 1918 when Ingram kills his white neighbor in a boundary dispute.

Click here for the full review.

Spring / Summer 2010 Schedule

Charles Lloyd New Quartet with
Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, and Eric Harland

Sangam with Zakir Hussain and Eric Harland

April : New Quartet
3 Cape Town Jazz Festival
25 Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco

May: New Quartet & Sangam
4 Melbourne Recital Hall, Melbourne, Australia New Quartet
8 Melbourne Town Hall, Sangam
9 Bruce Mason Center, Auckland, NZ New Quartet
29 Congress Center Hall, Jerusalem New Quartet

June : New Quartet
3 Athens Festival, with Maria Farantouri
30 Verona, Italy

July : New Quartet
1 Gexto, Spain
3 Jazz Baltica, Salzau, Germany
4 Estoril Jazz, Estoril, Portugal

Trailer for Sounds and Silence

A film about ECM and Manfred Eicher.

Click here to watch.

SBIFF Premier: The Monk and the Mermaid – the song of Charles Lloyd

The Monk and the Mermaid – the song of Charles Lloyd

A film by Fara C with Guiseppi de Vecchi.

This film will be broadcast on MEZZO , October 29.

Thursday October 29th, at 20:30 for an exceptional evening of jazz dedicated to Charles Lloyd during prime time.

"The Monk and the Mermaid – the Song of Charles Lloyd" followed by two live concerts given by Charles Lloyd in 2008

Hyeres Jazz Festival ( realized by Samuel Thiebaut ) duo concert with Jason Moran.

Nantes, aux Rendez-vous de l’Erdre ( realized by Jean-Marc Birraux) Charles Lloyd Sangam Trio with Zakir Hussain and Eric Harland

Updated Seattle Dates

The Charles Lloyd New Quartet will be playing in Seattle, WA, Sunday December 6, 2009 at Town Hall.

1119 Eighth Avenue (at Seneca Street)
Seattle, WA 98101
Phone (206) 652-4255

Click here for the Earshot Jazz website.

Charles Lloyd Quartet - Highline Ballroom

Charles Lloyd hasn't lost a step. He has an instantly recognizable and deeply personal sound on every instrument in his formidable arsenal. His technique gets an audience feeling it. But perhaps his most underrated gift is the ability to be a catalyst for the players around him.

Click here for the rest of the article at All About Jazz.

Rico Reeds / facebook blog

Charles Lloyd is a jazz musician of the absolute highest accomplishment. A brilliantly original, deeply swinging, hard-driving, romantic voice. When I listen to him live or on recordings there's a stunning electricity, a hard-swinging vibrancy, and deep groove in all he does. Hearing him live is an inspiration I treasure for years in my mind. This past Saturday in New York City at the Highline Ballroom with his working quartet of Jason Moran, Eric Harland and Reuben Rogers was one of those nights.The telepathic communication and flawless execution on this live set was an outstanding performance from Lloyd, Moran,Rogers and Harland. One of the best live concerts I heard all year, and I noted with extreme interest this was the opinion of many others in the audience.

Click here for more at Rico Reeds / facebook blog.

Charles Lloyd New Quartet in NYC - July 3rd

Charles Lloyd
Friday, July 3 10:30p
at Highline Ballroom, New York, NY

At 71 when most individuals are thinking of ways to slow down and kick back, Charles Lloyd has shifted to a higher gear and keeps going higher. To celebrate his 70th birthday in March of 2008, he released his first live quartet recording in over twenty-five years, " Rabo de Nube" on ECM Records

Click here to buy tickets.

New Fall Tour Dates Added

The Charles Lloyd New Quartet is on the road again -
Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, Eric Harland.

Oct 2: Enjoy Jazz Festival, Heidelberg, Germany

Oct 6: Demitria Festival, Thessolonki, Greece

#1 End of Year Standout Wall Street Journal 2008

“.. with a place among jazz’s elder masters, ( Charles Lloyd ) revered not the least for an ability to conjure near-mystic moods from jazz vernacular. He’s expansive in his musical discourse yet without a wasted note.”    
~Larry Blumenfeld

Jazz Times Critic’s Poll 2008

#1 Jazz Times Critic’s Poll 2008  
“If a poll is defined as ‘Who among living players has made the greatest contribution to the tenor saxophone?’ then the poll results are appropriate. If a poll means ‘Who is playing the most tenor saxophone now?’ then the positions of Sonny Rollins and Charles Lloyd should be reversed.”  

~Tom Conrad

Crawling Thickets of Groove

       
#1 Jazz Times Reader’s Poll 2008 
“Melody with gentility, crawls through thickets of world groove, stately, sacred seeking, and with Impulse! – era courage.”  
~ Evan Haga

Sangam Interview on The Checkout

Tabla master Zakir Hussain is the featured performer for Carnegie Hall’s Perspectives series. Zakir, Charles Lloyd, and drummer Eric Harland talk candidly about seeking spirituality through music in their trio, Sangam.

Click here for more at WBGO.org.

2009 Summer / Fall Tour Schedule

Charles Lloyd New Quartet:
Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, Eric Harland

June
25 Vigo, Spain

July
2 Dakota - Minneapolis, MN
3 Highline Ballroom - NY, NY
5 Ottawa International Jazz Festival - Ottawa, Canada
25 Nice Jazz Festival - Nice, France
28 Liguria Jazz Summer - Santa Margarita, Italy
29 La Fenice - Venice, Italy
31 Stadtfest - Tubingen, Germany

August
4 Jazz In Marciac - Marciac, France

October
4 Angra Jazz Festival, Azores
16 U of Texas - Austin, Texas
17 Cullen Theater - Houston, Texas

December
4 University of California - Santa Cruz, CA
5 Seattle,WA TBA
6 Portland, OR TBA
8 Disney Hall, Los Angeles, CA

Click here for CharlesLloyd.com.

NYTimes Review of Perspectives at Carnegie Hall

Sangam, which features the saxophonist Charles Lloyd and the drummer Eric Harland, made the concert’s first half an intrepid outing. The trio’s first offering, “Guman,” featured meditative vocals by Mr. Hussain, who wrote the song, but first came a mysterious rustle of shakers and a rumbling piano drone, played first by Mr. Lloyd and then by Mr. Harland.

On the next few songs, Mr. Lloyd was the one sounding a melodic incantation, on tenor, alto or tárogató, a straight woodwind instrument; his outpourings were imploring and soulful.

The trio delivered its share of percussive flash — Mr. Hussain was right to introduce Mr. Harland as “my partner in rhythm crime” — but the more lasting impression of the first half was melodic. This had to do partly with the pianist Jason Moran, an unbilled guest on the song “Tales of Rumi.”


Click here for the rest of the NYTimes review.

Sangam at Carnegie Hall

Sangam will perform at Carnegie Hall on April 29th as part of the Perspective Series that Zakir Hussain is curating this year. The evening is announced as " Zakir Hussain and Friends, Featuring Sangam with Charles Lloyd and Eric Harland, and members of Remember Shakti." It should be an unforgettable evening of music with new collaborations between the two groups.

During recent concerts in Dubai and Mumbai, Sangam performed with Shankar Mahadevan, U Shrinivas, V. Selvaganesh, and T. Qureshi - both events were thrilling. Not to be missed.


Click here for the Carnegie Hall site.

Remembering Abbaji - Mumbai Mirror

The purpose of life is to serve God, and I do this through music,” says the legendary saxophonist Charles Lloyd. Charles Lloyd fell in love with the Vedas during the Ramakrishna Mission movement during the '60s in the States. In fact, the jazz man took a break in his career to attain a higher state of mental awareness under the guidance of gurus at a Vedanta temple in Santa Barbara. His travels took him everywhere other than India.

Lloyd finally comes to India to play for the annual barsi celebration of Ustad Alla Rakha Khan as part of Sangam - a trio completed by Ustad Zakir Hussain and Eric Harland. The concert will also honour the tabla maestro Kishan Maharaj, who passed away last year.

Click here for more at the Mumbai Mirror.

Wall Street Journal: The Best Span . . .

Jazz these days has no one single source or sound, and that's a good thing. Many of the musicians on my top-10 list have been covered in these pages during the course of 2008 -- guitarist Lionel Loueke, clarinetist Evan Christopher, singer Cassandra Wilson, pianist Guillermo Klein, the Microscopic Septet. But here are five more -- reflecting the influence of three continents and as many generations -- who stood out.

Charles Lloyd
"Rabo de Nube"
ECM/$17.98

Forty years ago, saxophonist Charles Lloyd was a pop star; his 1966 album, "Forest Flower," sold a million copies. These days he must content himself with a place among jazz's elder masters, revered not least for an ability to conjure near-mystic moods from jazz vernacular. Much like the band led by saxophonist Wayne Shorter, yet in a very different way, Mr. Lloyd's current group reinvents the quartet format, investing it with unpredictable organic possibility. Pianist Jason Moran, a brilliant bandleader himself, is one key. No less elemental are drummer Eric Harland and bassist Ruben Rogers. The three much younger musicians feed more than follow Mr. Lloyd. And he, playing tenor saxophone and, on occasion, alto flute and tarogato (an Eastern European reed instrument), is by turns hard-blowing and ruminative. He's expansive in his musical discourse yet without a wasted note.

Click here for the Rest of the Best.

Rabo de Nube - Best of 2008

Denver Post says:
1. Charles Lloyd,"Rabo de Nube"(ECM) Life-affirming, playful and energetic are all words that apply to the work of saxophonist Lloyd, whose most recent recordings are his finest. Recommended not just for the symbolic passing of the torch between the 70-year old master and the young pianist Jason Moran, but also for the most absorbing explorations released this year.

Click here for the rest of the Best.

facebook photos of Sangam 2004/2005

Added a few more photos from Sangam on facebook.


Click here to view photos and follow Charles Lloyd on facebook.

Time-lapse: Charles Lloyd New Quartet

CHARLES LLOYD NEW QUARTET
SANTA FE, NM - LENSIC THEATER
Song: RAMANUJAN
Album: RABO DE NUBE
Photography: JEFFERY MORSE

Click here to watch.

Charles Lloyd on facebook

Just created a new page for Charles Lloyd on facebook. If you're a facebook user join the group and support the cause. If not, join facebook. What are you waiting for?

Click here to join Charles Lloyd on facebook.

Promo Spot for Charles Lloyd Quartet

Odetta

My heart weighs heavy with the news that the world has lost one of it's most beautiful, deep and compassionate voices and soldiers for peace. When Rosa Parks was asked what her favorite song was, she replied "Anything by Odetta."

Anything she sang couldn't help but pierce your heart with her humanity. I especially loved her singing of Dylan... and any spiritual she sang took you right to the bosom of Angel Oak. It was my honor and privilege to have met her, and sat beside her in conversation.
God bless your beautiful soul.

Why I Love Jazz

One day 14 years ago I became a jazz fan for life. I was a newspaper reporter in Idaho, and was paid so poorly that I supplemented my income by delivering pizza in my pickup truck on weekends.

The good part about it was that I had a good stereo, and could pick up a good public radio station out of Salt Lake City, KUER, that played a lot of jazz.

Someone got a cold pizza one day because of Charles Lloyd.

. . .

Click here for the rest of Arik Hesseldahl's blog posting.

Charles Lloyd Videos on HCW

HelioCentricWorld has posted a nice compilation of Charles Lloyd videos. Check out Prometheus, Lotus Blossom, Supreme Love Dance and two pieces from the Original Charles Lloyd Quartet.

Click here now for HelioCentricWorld.

The Beach Boys Perform All This Is That With The Monster Saxaphonist Charles Lloyd

Click here to watch.

Dream Weaver - The Charles Lloyd Anthology - The Atlantic Years 1966-1969

Beautiful and absorbing though most of them are, Charles Lloyd's discs on ECM, with whom the reed player has been recording for almost twenty years, have tended to overshadow the wonderful albums he made with the Charles Lloyd Quartet for Atlantic forty and more years ago.

With Atlantic, Lloyd notched up eight LPs recorded in the three years from 1966—radical discs which reflected the youth zeitgeist like no other jazz outfit—before the quartet imploded in the face of mutual suspicion and predatory rival bandleaders. That the music was instrumental and acoustic—without a Fender Rhodes or bass guitar in sight—made the achievement more remarkable.

Click here for more at All About Jazz.

New Date Added to Summer European Tour

July 29th, Vaison la Romaine, Charles Lloyd and Eric Harland Duo
7pm in the Cite Medieval


Click here for more information on Vaison la Romaine.

Hidden in Plain Sight

For more than forty years, Charles Lloyd has been the small combo leader making distinctively impressionistic and soulful kind of small combo jazz. His tenor's delicate, almost alto-like timbre is instantly recognizable from just a single note. His prolific periods of the late sixties and since the late eighties have produced consistently strong albums. Many stars have played in Lloyd's band, and in many cases, gotten their major career boosts playing behind him. Jack deJohnette, Cecil, McBee, Keith Jarrett and Michael Pettruciani all gigged in his group. And yet, Lloyd is oddly not often considered when the subject of major living figures in jazz comes up.

Charles Lloyd is the jazz legend who is hidden in plain sight.

There have been nearly an album a year from Lloyd since he came of of semi-retirement and signed with ECM Records about twenty years ago. It could be a daunting task just to decide where to start with his discography with that label since they're all serious efforts. When his latest Rabo de Nube was issued this past March, I was tempted to forgo writing about it, just because as good as I knew it was going to be, it's still "just another Charles Lloyd" album. That is, until I actually listened to it.

Click here for more at somethingelsereviews.com.

Make Your Reservations Today!

The lakeside Eurotel hotel in Montreux is preparing to open the doors of a 'Charles Lloyd Room' to coincide with the annual jazz festival. Named after the saxophonist who was the first international artist to perform at the event 41 years ago, the restored room offers fans of jazz and 1960s memorabilia a time-stood-still experience.

Click here for more info.

Charles Lloyd Performs at the New York Society for Ethical Culture

Charles Lloyd was responsible for a ton of words at the New York Society for Ethical Culture on Saturday night. At the outset of his JVC Jazz Festival concert, he called up Charles Simic, the poet laureate of the United States, who read a handful of nocturnal poems. Later, for a second encore, Mr. Lloyd recited passages from the Bhagavad-Gita over a gentle drone. And during the pauses between songs he was a torrent of allusive patter, drawing on a fount of vintage hipster recollections.

Click here for more on Charles Lloyd at the New York Times.

How it's done

Last night, Memphis native Charles Lloyd turned in a magical display of high-calibre improvisation at Enwave Theatre. Backed by a stellar collection of young bucks – pianist Jason Moran (who worked the piano over like it owed him money), bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland – the 70-year-old flautist/saxist was as vigorous and inventive as anything going.

Click here for more on Charles Lloyd in the Toronto Star.

New Summer Dates Just Added

New Quartet with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers and
Eric Harland:

July 8th The Arena, Milano, Italy

Duo with Jason Moran
19 Soulliac, France
20 Garana Jazz Festival, Garana, Roumania

Click here for more tour dates for Charles Lloyd Summer '08.

Healdsburg Jazz Festival from JazzInkBlog

"Charles Lloyd and his companions are nomadic storytellers, wandering through centuries and continents."

Click here for more at JazzInkBlog.

Copenhagen Jazz Festival, July 4 to 13, 2008

Charles Lloyd Quartet

70-year-old saxophonist Charles Lloyd has played with some exceptional pianists in the course of his long career, starting with Phineas Newborn in his home town, with Joe Zawinul in the Cannonball Adderley group, and with Keith Jarrett, whom Lloyd introduced in his pioneering group of the 1960s. Subsequent Lloyd quartet pianists have included Michel Petrucciani, Bobo Stenson, Brad Mehldau, and Geri Allen. The latest incarnation of the Charles Lloyd Quartet includes the brilliant Jason Moran who finds his own, exciting way to play inside Lloyd's musical concepts as can be heard on the quartet's new (and brilliant) ECM release entitled “Rabo de Nube".

More about the Copenhagen Jazz Festival at All About Jazz.

Jazz this pure is hard to come by in 2008.

Click here for more on Rabo de Nube.

Love for Lloyd: Jason Moran on Charles Lloyd

Charles falls in line with some of the great saxophonists I’ve gotten to work with, and he approaches the music with such openness. I like playing with leaders who let you bring what you’re going to bring to the table, and interpret the music however you’d like. And you’d think in jazz that that would be a popular notion, but it really is uncommon for leaders to actually, truthfully live by their word. And Charles is a great promoter of free-thinking music, and letting it develop on the spot. So every concert we play, each night it would go into different territories, and it just stayed open that way. He’s got great love . . .

Click here for more of Jason Moran's ruminations on Charles Lloyd.

Prometheus Gets 98 out of 100 - jazz.com

TRACK
Prometheus

RATING: 98/100
“Prometheus” borrows its thematic material from an older Lloyd composition “Hej Da!,” yet he allows his new group the freedom and space to make their own sense out of their leader’s tradition. Lloyd sounds invigorated—his shimmering, wide-ranging lines reach far and stretch unseen boundaries, yet magnificently retain an elegant, singing quality.

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Charles Lloyd at Seventy - jazz.com

Charles Lloyd has been called many things—mystical, mesmerizing, a shaman, and even a “tremendous dispenser of ecstasies.” Anyone who has seen him in concert knows that these lofty praises are not at all unjustified.

As he turned seventy years young this weekend, Charles Lloyd celebrated his birthday with the release of a new album for ECM, Rabo de Nube. The album—sincere, moving, and stimulating—is colored by the rainbows of the late 1960s, touched by the time-tested hand of the blues, and sprinkled by an exotic pinch of the Far East. Rabo de Nube continues many long-established traditions in Lloyd’s career and catalog. After releasing seven live records in the 1960s with his classic group, this is only the fourth he has released since, making it much anticipated and appreciated. Recorded in Switzerland in 2007, the new album brings Lloyd back to Europe, where in June 1966 he established himself as arguably the brightest star on the jazz horizon with a breakthrough performance at the Antibes Jazz Festival.

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Slight Modifications to CL Summer Tour

July 23 Hyeres, France, duo with Jason Moran
August 2, Vannes, France, Sangam
August 29, Nantes, France, Sangam

The Poetic Charles Lloyd

There seems to be something almost otherworldly about Charles Lloyd. Steeped in the primeval blues of Memphis and informed by Eastern music and philosophy, Lloyd always pursues his own alchemy. His latest, Rabo de Nube a live set released within days of his seventieth birthday, proves Lloyd’s powers remain undiminished with the passage of years.

U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Simic contributed original verse for the liner, in an appropriate fit between poet and musician. Simic’s work combines the very real, concrete details of our world with a surreal vision of what lurks around the corner, just out of sight. Lloyd has always been very much of this world, grounded in the blues. Yet he is able to step outside it, with his searching flights of exploration.


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