Jazz Articles about Charles Lloyd

Charles Lloyd/Billy Higgins: Which Way Is East

by David Adler
July 2, 2004

“We got to keep workin’ on this music.” Four months before his death, drum shaman Billy Higgins spoke those words to Charles Lloyd. The two were in the midst of some of their final conversations, both verbal and musical. Higgins had been in and out of hospitals, battling liver failure, and he and Lloyd knew their time together was short. So they hunkered down in Montecito, California in January of 2001 to play. The resulting two-disc package, Which Way Is ...

Charles Lloyd/Billy Higgins: Which Way Is East

by Mark Corroto
June 6, 2004

Name your religion. Seriously, these days everyone from President “Dubya" to freedom fighters is wearing his or her religion on their sleeves. Why not jazz musicians?

And jazz musicians seem to “get it." The spiritual part, that is. From Coltrane to James Moody and Dizzy Gillespie—it’s all about the love supreme, if I can steal a title.

For drummer Billy Higgins and his long-time friend Charles Lloyd the big picture hovers close to this two-disc, ...

A Fireside Chat with Charles Lloyd

by AAJ Staff
May 17, 2004

Spirituality is often feigned and frequently copied for its cache value. The figure most commonly associated with spirituality is John Coltrane. And his divinity is authenticated by his associations (Eric Dolphy, Sonny Rollins, Kenny Burrell) and the indisputable gospel of the Church of St. John Coltrane. A commanding presence, Charles Lloyd (unedited and in his own words), an erstwhile disciple, has matured to emerge as a messenger of the music. Paralleling Trane, the company Lloyd has kept (Billy Higgins) ultimately ...

Charles Lloyd/Billy Higgins: Which Way Is East

by Mark F. Turner
April 12, 2004

Which Way Is East documents a simply magical recording between two lifelong musicians and friends: saxophonist Charles Lloyd and drummer Billy Higgins. The recording is significant for a number of reasons. Besides the musical affinity the two musicians shared, a spiritual bond also permeated their music. Having collaborated many years on numerous projects their recent efforts on ECM with Voice In The Night, The Water is Wide, and Hyperion With Higgins, the newly released Which Way Is East would be ...

Charles Lloyd/Billy Higgins: Which Way Is East

by John Kelman
April 10, 2004

There has always been an inherent spiritual element in Charles Lloyd's work, but nowhere as overt as on Which Way is East , a series of duets recorded with drummer and, as it turns out, multi-instrumentalist Billy Higgins, who passed away only four months after these sessions were recorded. In the liner notes Higgins is quoted as saying, “Everybody got to go sometime. But it's a drag if I have to come back and do this all over again. I ...

Charles Lloyd: A Reporter of Life's Experience

by AAJ Staff
November 6, 2003

Submitted on behalf of Charles Lloyd At 65, approaching my 66th year, I am playing with one of the greatest bands I have had. Geri Allen, Robert Hurst, Eric Harland and on special occasions we make it a quintet with John Abercrombie. Each time we play together the waters get deeper and more thrilling for me. My job is to keep the boat afloat and pointed toward the other shore - to report on ...

Charles Lloyd: Forest Flower

by John Ballon
November 2, 2003

Recorded live at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1966, Forest Flower was the jazz soundtrack of the Flower Power movement. Always accessible and majestic, the Charles Lloyd Quartet was recorded here at the peak of its powers. The title track, “Forest Flower," actually is split into two parts, “Sunrise" and “Sunset," which merge together seamlessly to form a single piece of astonishing unity, with Charles Lloyd, Keith Jarrett, Cecil McBee, and Jack DeJonette playing beyond the point of empathy. There ...