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Live Reviews
Festival International de Jazz de Montreal 2005, Day 2
The second show of the evening was Charles Lloyd's quartet with pianist Geri Allen, bassist Larry Grenadier, and drummer Eric Harland. When Lloyd played in Montreal a few years back, it was with Allen, bassist Marc Johnson, drummer Billy Hart (replacing the recently departed Billy Higgins) and guitarist John Abercrombie. That group really fit the model of the "ECM Sound. With the new players (all whom, apart from Grenadier, recporded this year's Jumping the Creek), particularly the remarkable Harland, the group has added a deep soulfulness to its concept. Allen and Lloyd are the perfect foils for each other—both play with rich expressiveness that belie the unusual phrasings and voicings both employ. Grenadier is a more forceful bassist than Johnson and Harland is up there with Brian Blade in terms of creative time keeping. The set was almost all originals and included two encores, a rare treat for the capacity audience at the Spectrum. The pieces were "Tone Poem" from 1999's Breathtaking, the classic Lloyd tunes "How Can I Tell You", "Third Floor Richard" and "Dreamweaver", Jacques Brel's "Ne Me Quitte Pas", Jumping the Creek's "The Sufi's Tears" and Silvio Rodroguez' "Rabo de Nube", done by Lloyd on 2002's Lift Every Voice.
Something about this particular hall gives every performance there a rock concert feel. Certainly a performer like Lloyd, who performed at rock venues in the '60s, knows how to propagate that sensation. In fact, much of the playing during the evening recalled the early days of San Francisco rock with a certain floating dreaminess, Lloyd in the Jerry Garcia role (he did play with the Dead in 1967). Lloyd's sound on tenor is a cool one, not in the hipster sense but more in a hippy spiritual way that ends up communicating his deep wells of essence. His alto flute playing is West Coast mystic. The one piece where he was featured on soprano sax was Middle Eastern and may have been a prelude for the next day's collaboration with Zakir Hussain as part of the invitation series. The rousing ovation that finished the show was responded to by a typically elevated response from Lloyd about the band's attempt to communicate their spirit to the audience and how gratified he was that we all brought our spirits to them. Again, try that in New York!
Earlier in the day, your correspondent had a chance to speak with Swedish pianist Bobo Stenson, who was to play solo that evening in a double bill with Fred Hersch. He stated that he doesn't play solo all that often, less because he prefers a trio format than that the opportunity doesn't come very often. He also somewhat debunked the notion of a Nordic Sound (more of a Norwegian thing anyway though he has played with all the guys ostensibly responsible for it) and his adherence to it. Keep in mind that Stenson may be the only musician to have played with both Stan Getz and Don Cherry!
Sadly, scheduling misinformation had your correspondent thinking he was on second, thus there would be plenty of time to get to the show after Charles Lloyd. This unfortunately was not the case and only the tail end was heard, a slow languorous piece that sounded very much like a loooooose interpretation of "Round Midnight (it was a quarter to 12, after all). Rather than sounding Nordic, it was steeped in the blues with some classical flourishes. Given that small snatch and the standing applause at the end of the set, one can only assume the performance was memorable. Ah, the jazz festival lifestyle of running around!
Continue: Day 3
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