Charles Lloyd

Saxophonist Charles Lloyd is a free-spirited musical visionary whose improvisational talents and interest in cross-pollinating jazz with folk, rock, and non-Western traditions, established him as a key figure. Albums like Of Course, Of Course in 1965, Love In (1966), Forest Flower (1967), and In the Soviet Union (1970) were so successful in showcasing his warm, accessible playing style on tenor saxophone and flute that they charted. Lloyd spent the ’70s in retreat, but recorded independent dates including 1973’s Geeta and 1979′s Morning Sunrise, wedding global traditions, jazz and rock. Between 1992 and 2013 he issued a series of albums for ECM that established him as an innovator and elder jazz statesman. He signed to Blue Note in 2015, issued the charting live album Wild Man Dance, and formed an all-star fusion outfit called the Marvels with guitarists Bill Frisell and Greg Leisz. Their debut, I Long to See You, followed in 2016. Two years later, Lloyd, the Marvels, and singer/songwriter Lucinda Williams joined forces on Vanished Gardens. 8: Kindred Spirits (Live from the Lobero) was released in 2020. Lloyd’s Marvels released the studio album Tone Poem in March 2021. Trios: Chapel, the first in his Trio of Trios series, arrived in March 2022, with Marvels’ Frisell and bassist Thomas Morgan. The second, Trios: Ocean with pianist Gerald Clayton and guitarist Anthony Wilson, arrived in September. Trios: Sacred Thread, included percussionist Zakir Hussain and guitarist Julian Lage and arrived in November. Lloyd returned in 2024 with The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow leading an all-star quartet with pianist Jason Moran, bassist Larry Grenadier, and drummer Brian Blade. Born in Memphis, Tennessee on March 15, 1938, Lloyd grew up surrounded by the vibrant blues and jazz scenes of his native city. Given a saxophone at age nine, Lloyd eventually studied with Memphis’ legendary pianist Phineas Newborn, as well as saxophonist Irvin Reason. By his teens, Lloyd was not only best friends with schoolmate and trumpeter Booker Little, but was also gigging locally with such artists as saxophonist George Coleman and future blues icons including Bobby "Blue" Bland, Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, and others. In 1956, Lloyd left Memphis and enrolled at the University of Southern California to study classical music, ultimately earning a master’s degree. During this time, he performed around Los Angeles with a veritable who’s-who of avant-garde jazzmen including saxophonist Ornette Coleman, saxophonist Eric Dolphy, and vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson. He also became a working member of Gerald Wilson’s big band. In 1960, Lloyd joined drummer Chico Hamilton’s ensemble as musical director, replacing Dolphy, who had left to play with bassist Charles Mingus. During his time with Hamilton, Lloyd was responsible for writing and arranging much of the music in the band and recorded several albums with Hamilton, including 1962′s Transfusion, 1963′s A Different Kind of Journey, 1963′s A Man from Two Worlds, and 1963′s Passin’ Thru. By the mid-’60s, Lloyd had developed into a highly adept writer/arranger as well as a virtuoso improviser, and regular sojourns to New York City brought him into contact with such luminaries as saxophonist John Coltrane, trumpeter Miles Davis, saxophonist Coleman Hawkins, Mingus, and saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, whose group he joined in 1964. During this period, Lloyd began recording as a leader and released several albums, including 1964′s Nirvana, 1965′s Discovery! and Of Course, Of Course. After leaving Adderley in 1965, Lloyd continued recording as a leader, and formed a quartet, that included pianist Keith Jarrett, drummer Jack DeJohnette, and bassist Cecil McBee. An extremely creative, intuitive, and adventurous ensemble, Lloyd’s quartet released several exceptional albums during this time, including 1966′s Dream Weaver, the 1966 live album Charles Lloyd in Europe, and 1966′s Love-In. The ensemble’s appearance at 1966′s Monterey Pop Festival and subsequent album Forest Flower: Charles Lloyd at Monterey, caught the public’s attention. An expansive, sophisticated, and genre-bending performance, Forest Flower found Lloyd and his group in peak creative form, mixing his long-burgeoning interest in Eastern music with modal and avant-garde jazz. The performance was a highlight of the festival; the album was one of the first jazz recordings to sell a million copies, gain heavy radio play, and garner a wide crossover audience. His success at Monterey buoyed Lloyd’s career, and he spent much of the late ’60s sharing bills at such famed rock venues as San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium alongside artists like guitarist Jimi Hendrix, Cream, and the Grateful Dead. Such was Lloyd’s popularity that in 1967 he was voted Jazz Artist of the Year by DownBeat and toured Europe, even playing in the U.S.S.R. during a time when the government was discouraging jazz performances. Lloyd’s genre-bending jazz dovetailed perfectly with the free-thinking experimentation of the late ’60s. Although his music was based in acoustic jazz, many artists took notice and went the extra step toward electrifying jazz, most notably Miles Davis, whose 1970 classic Bitches Brew drew upon many of the same rock and world music influences. Lloyd issued the jazz, pop and rock experiment Moon Man in 1970, Warm Waters in 1971 and Waves in 1972. (The latter with guitarists Dave Mason, John Cippolina, Jesse Ed Davis, and members of the Beach Boys). Undergoing a spiritual crisis after the death of his mother provoked him to look inside; in response he learned to practice meditation that altered the course of his life. He withdrew from the public eye and moved to Big Sur to focus on what he described as an inner spiritual journey. He recorded Geeta, issued in 1973, with bassist Baba Alade, P-Funk guitarist Blackbird McKnight, sarod master Aashish Khan and and percussionist Pranesh Kahn. Five years later he released Weavings. Lloyd also worked in the studio and on the road with the Beach Boys during the decade. Lloyd recorded and released four albums in 1979: Pathless Path (later, Koto) with bassist Patrick O'Hearn; Autumn in New York, with strings arranged by Claire Fisher, released on Mike Love’s Destiny label; Big Sur Tapestry, a new age offering on Pacific Arts; and Morning Sunrise, with the McKnight / Khans band. In 1981, Lloyd met 18-year-old French jazz pianist Michel Petrucciani. Inspired by Petrucciani’s immense skill, Lloyd toured with the young pianist throughout the early ’80s and released several albums, including the studio offering (cassette only) Night Blooming Jasmine, the live Montreux (1982) and 1983′s A Night in Copenhagen the latter two on Blue Note. During the late ’80s, Lloyd signed with ECM, and formed a quartet with pianist Bobo Stenson, bassist Palle Danielsson ands drummer Jon Christensen. This group released several acclaimed albums for ECM, including 1989′s Fish Out of Water, 1991′s Notes from Big Sur, and 1996′s Canto. His association with ECM continued throughout the next decade, a time of renewed public interest in Lloyd, and he built a steady body of work for the label, including 1999′s Voice in the Night with guitarist John Abercrombie and 2000′s The Water Is Wide with pianist Brad Mehldau. In August of 2001 Lloyd issued Hyperion with Higgins, an archival live date celebrating the memory of drummer Billy Higgins, who had passed in May. His 2002 , Lift Every Voice, was scheduled to be recorded on the night of September 11, 2001, at New York City’s Blue Note club. In the aftermath of 9/11, however, it was delayed until February when Lloyd, with pianist Geri Allen, drummer Billy Hart, guitarist John Abercrombie, and bassists Marc Johnson and Larry Grenadier played two gigs; their material drew from public-domain spirituals, pop/rock songs, R&B tunes, folk songs, Ellingtonia, and original compositions. The band’s collective goal was to illustrate the power of music to provide empathy, compassion, and solace in the face of darkness. Issued in October, it has become one of the saxophonist’s most beloved albums. In 2004, Lloyd released Which Way Is East, a collection of duets with Higgins recorded during the months preceding his death — they constitute the drummer’s final recordings. In 2006, Lloyd released the live album Sangam, featuring Indian tabla master Zakir Hussain. Two years later he returned with another live album, Rabo de Nube, this time with pianist Jason Moran. In 2010, Lloyd released Mirror, his 13th album for ECM, once again featuring Moran, along with bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland. The live album Athens Concert, featuring vocalist Maria Farantouri, followed in 2011. Lloyd continued touring for most of 2012. His next studio effort was a duet offering with pianist Moran entitled Hagar's Song, issued in February 2013. The same year, the saxophonist was commissioned to write and perform a work for Poland’s Jazztopad Festival in Wrocław. The festival screened Arrows Into Infinity, a documentary that looked at Lloyd’s life and career. It was directed by Jeffrey Morse and his life partner, manager, and co-producer Dorothy Darr. The film made the festival and theater circuit before being released on disc by ECM in 2014. After a nearly three-decade tenure with ECM, Lloyd re-signed to Blue Note in early 2015. His debut for the label, Wild Man Dance, was commissioned by the Jazztopad Festival two years previous. His band included pianist Gerald Clayton, bassist Joe Sanders, and drummer Gerald Cleaver, with guest appearances from Greek lyra player Sokratis Sinopoulos and Hungarian cimbalom master Miklós Lukács. Wild Man Dance saw release in April. For his second Blue Note release, Lloyd had intended to use a 2013 concert recording made at UCLA’s Royce Hall featuring guitarist Bill Frisell. However, producer Darr convinced him to re-enter the studio with Frisell instead. Along with drummer Harland, lap steel guitarist Greg Leisz, and bassist Reuben Rogers, they cut traditional and folk tunes, and re-recorded some of Lloyd’s earlier compositions, including “Of Course, Of Course.” Norah Jones sang on the pop nugget “You Are So Beautiful,” and Willie Nelson lent his voice to Ed McCurdy’s “Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream.” Attributed to Charles Lloyd & the Marvels, the finished album was titled I Long to See You and released in early 2015. The saxophonist celebrated the tenth anniversary of his New Quartet with Moran, Rogers, and Harland with Passin’ Thru in the summer of 2017. The live offering featured compositions from his long career including the title track, which made its first recorded appearance in 1963 when he served in Hamilton’s quintet. It also featured a new version of “Dream Weaver,” the title of his quartet’s debut album in 1966. Lloyd reconvened the Marvels for 2018′s Vanished Gardens on Blue Note with guest vocalist Lucinda Williams. The singer/ songwriter had worked with Leisz and Frisell before; she met Lloyd backstage at a Marvels concert. The pair got along well, and before long, she invited him to open one of her shows. He returned the favor, and they decided to work together. Vanished Gardens, co-produced by Darr and Don Was, features Williams on four revisioned originals from her catalog as well as a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Angel.” The rest of the album comprises three tracks by Lloyd, Thelonious Monk’s “Monk’s Mood,” and the standard “Ballad of the Sad Young Men.” In the aftermath of the record’s release in June, the Marvels and Williams embarked on a nationwide tour for the remainder of the calendar year. The saxophonist celebrated his 80th birthday on March 15, 2018 at his hometown venue, Santa Barbara’s Lobero Theater, accompanied by guitarist Julian Lage, pianist Gerald Clayton, bassist Reuben Rogers, and drummer Eric Harland. Also on the scene for the occasion were organist Booker T. Jones and bassist (and Blue Note president) Don Was. They joined the ensemble midway through. A document of that event simply entitled 8: Kindred Spirits (Live from the Lobero), was issued by Blue Note Records in February of 2020. While the pandemic shut down touring and, for practical purposes, collaborations, Lloyd and the Marvels soldiered on in the studio. In February 2021, the release of cover single “Anthem” by Leonard Cohen appeared to positive critical notice. In March, the band issued the full-length Tone Poem, the first-ever new release in the label’s Tone Poet deluxe vinyl series. The album also included covers by Ornette Coleman, Thelonious Monk, and Gabor Szabo, and a live reading of the Ignacio Jacinto Villa Fernandez Cuban standard “Ay Amor.” Lloyd contributed three compositions to the date, including the title track and “Prayer.” Trios: Chapel, the saxophonist’s recording with longtime associates bassist Charles Morgan and guitarist Bill Frisell, arrived in March 2022 as the first release in the three-part Trio of Trios albums, each with a different lineup. The second volume, Trios: Ocean, arrived in September and showcased Lloyd alongside guitarist Anthony Wilson and pianist Gerald Clayton. Trios: Sacred Thread arrived in November; it placed the saxophonist in the company of Indian master percussionist Zakir Hussain and celebrated guitarist Julian Lage. In the spring of 2023, around his 85th birthday, Lloyd returned to the studio with an all-star quartet that included Moran, Grenadier, and drummer Brian Blade. The program of 15 new, old, and reimagined originals was released as the double length The Sky Will Still Be Here Tomorrow in March 2024. ~ Matt Collar & Thom Jurek