Jazz Articles about Charles Lloyd

Charles Lloyd Quartet: Rabo De Nube

by John Kelman
March 13, 2008

Woodwind multi-instrumentalist Charles Lloyd has traversed considerable musical territory with nary a misstep across a dozen albums, since joining the ECM fold in 1989. Still, as undeniably fine as albums including Sangam (2006), Jumping the Creek (2005) and Which Way is East (2004) are, what Lloyd's been missing is a consistent line-up to rival his mid-1990s discs with pianist Bobo Stenson, bassist Anders Jormin and drummer Billy Hart, in particular the definitive Canto (ECM, 1997). Rabo De Nube ...

Charles Lloyd Quartet: Rabo De Nube

by Chris May
March 4, 2008

It's fitting that the shimmeringly beautiful Rabo De Nube, which is being released to celebrate reed player Charles Lloyd's 70th birthday on March 15, 2008, is a live album. Lloyd became a star forty years ago with a series of paradigm-shifting live discs recorded on a seemingly never-ending tour of the USA and Europe--seven of them altogether, starting with Forest Flower (Atlantic, 1966) and ending with Soundtrack (Atlantic, 1968).

Intentionally or not, Rabo De Nube, recorded in Switzerland ...

Charles Lloyd: His Mystical Journey

by Matt Leskovic
September 20, 2007

The life of Charles Lloyd has truly been the proverbial “long, strange trip."

The master reedman experienced an unmatched level of popularity for a jazz musician in the late 1960s. Lloyd (b. 1938) and his quartet, which featured a young Keith Jarrett on piano and Jack DeJohnette on drums, packed clubs and captivated festival audiences worldwide. Voted Jazzman of the Year by Down Beat Magazine in 1967, Lloyd was for a time the darling of both ...

A Mystical Sangam: Charles Lloyd at the Library of Congress, Nov. 8, 2006

by Erik R. Quick
November 22, 2006

Although his emergence over forty years ago with Chico Hamilton's “chamber jazz organization and his appearance with Cannonball Adderley's group in 1964 provided a firm foundation within the jazz tradition, Charles Lloyd has surpassed conventional boundaries and expected means of musical expression. Indeed, when French pianist Michel Petrucciani coaxed Lloyd from his contemplative retirement in the early '80s, Lloyd reemerged with a seemingly whole new perspective about the role of the creative musician.

Since Fish Out of Water in ...

Charles Lloyd: Sangam

by AAJ Italy Staff
October 25, 2006

Storico perlustratore dei più diversi universi musicali, Charles Lloyd ha una considerevole conoscenza della musica orientale; non è perciò un caso che, nell’affrontare un concerto commemorativo del grande batterista e suo collaboratore Billy Hiddings, abbia scelto di esibirsi in un trio includente, accanto ad Eric Harland (batterista del suo quartetto), anche Zakir Hussain, virtuoso indiano della tabla. Il lavoro conserva la vitalità e libertà tipiche dell’esibizione live, e fin dal titolo richiama alla cooperazione tra diversi (Sangam è termine dai ...

Charles Lloyd: Sangam & Of Course, Of Course

by A. Henkin
July 15, 2006

Charles Lloyd Sangam ECM 2005 Charles Lloyd Of Course, Of Course Mosaic 2006

Charles Lloyd may, in many ways, be the ideal ECM artist of the new century. Certainly since returning to the label in the late '80s, his recordings, all with wonderfully diverse, yet all uniformly spiritual ensembles, have set ...

Charles Lloyd: Confluence

by Russ Musto
June 20, 2006

“It's all part of a continuum, Charles Lloyd says about the music of his new trio with Zakir Hussain and Eric Harland. “Sangam is a confluence, a meeting--it's a supercharged atmosphere when we get together. We play in the now, looking for the One. Zakir, Eric and I may come from different backgrounds, but it is a small planet and we are here on the homeward journey together. Charles Lloyd's “journey is one of the more intriguing stories ...