P.S. CHARLES LLOYD’s ‘HIP’ CREDENTIALS

Some little snippets from my entry on CHARLES LLOYD in THE GREAT ROCK BIBLE:

“On his early albums Lloyd’s tenor sax playing owed much to the spirit of JOHN COLTRANE. He would squeeze in as many notes as possible, making his bands work hard whether it was a frantic walking bass line (Cecil Mc Bee in the early days) or fractured piano lines (KEITH JARRETT). He also played a mean flute, notably on “Dream Weaver” (1966) which included ‘Sombrero Sam’, later appearing in extended form on Lloyd’s live LP “Soundtrack” (1969), and covered by THE NICE. “Love-In” (1967), recorded at the Fillmore, also captured the ears of flower power concert goers more attuned to rock music with its entrancing ‘Tribal Dance/ Temple Bells’ section eventually giving way to a cover of THE BEATLES’ ‘Here, There and Everywhere’.”

Allied to some psychedelic artwork, JAZZWISE magazine recently said, “Forest Flower was Lloyd’s breakthrough album, uniting jazz fans and turned-on psychedelic heads, selling over a million copies.” An artist who keeps reinventing himself, and describing himself as a “late bloomer”, other notable moments have come with a spirited rendition of MARVIN GAYE’s ‘What’s Goin’ On’ on his 2002 ECM album “Lift Every Voice”, and the album he made with LUCINDA WILLIAMS and BILL FRISELL (and the rest of THE MARVELS) called “Vanished Gardens”; it is, well, simply marvellous.