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| Charles Lloyd: 40 Years of ’Forest Flower’ In honor of the 40th anniversary of his groundbreaking hit Forest Flower Charles Lloyd and his acclaimed working quartet-pianist Geri Allen, bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland-revisit the classic music at this year's 49th Monterey Jazz Festival on the opening night of the three-day affair, Saturday, September 16 on the Jimmy Lyons Stage in the main arena at the Monterey County Fairgrounds. Lloyd is capping a momentous year, which featured stunning concerts with his exciting trio Sangam (Lloyd, Harland and Indian tabla master Zakir Hussain) as well as the April release of their critically lauded eponymous CD, Sangam on ECM. The trio debuted at the SF Jazz Festival in 2004 and their sold out show at NYC's Zankel Hall was one of the highlights of this summer's JVC Jazz Festival. Lloyd is often credited with anticipating the World Music movement as far back as the 1950s and has performed and recorded with musicians from around the globe. Charles Lloyd's final collaboration with his longtime friend and musical co-conspirator, the late, great drum master Billy Higgins is the subject of a new 72 minute film entitled HOME by Lloyd's wife, filmmaker/photographer Dorothy Darr, which documents Lloyd's last recording with Higgins, Which Way is East. Mosaic Records has also just release Lloyd's second recording, Of Course, Of Course which has been long out-of-print. This elemental session from 1964-65 features Lloyd alongside what was then Miles Davis' stellar rhythm section of Ron Carter and Tony Williams as well as guitarist Gabor Szabo who had recorded four albums with Lloyd as a member of Chico Hamilton's band previous to this date. This is the first cd release of a much neglected masterpiece. Charles Lloyd has long been one of the most compelling and iconoclastic figures in jazz for the past four+ decades--from his early days in Memphis to playing with Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, Billy Higgins and others in Los Angeles in the 1950s. He was principal composer and musical director for Hamilton in the early sixties. In his 60s heyday, he led his own legendary bands that featured the talents of improvising artists Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette, Cecil McBee, and Szabo among them. Following his huge success in the mid-late 60s, Lloyd retired in a self-imposed retreat to Big Sur on a spiritual quest that fueled his gradual return in the 1980s as one of the missing links between the avant-garde, world music and the improvised sounds of the last part of the 20th century. Lloyd's use of Eastern modality in his extended compositions as well as his expansive melodic grace have influenced a generation of jazz players. Since 1989 his recordings for ECM have become one of the most treasured catalogs among today's jazz listeners. Charles Lloyd's career was the subject of an extensive cover story in the July 2006 issue of Down Beat. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |