Charles Lloyd (born March 15, 1938) is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

musician. Though he primarily plays

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...

and flute, he has occasionally recorded on other

reed Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * ...

instruments, including alto saxophone and the Hungarian

tárogató The tárogató (''töröksíp'', ''Turkish pipe''; plural ''tárogatók'' or, anglicized, ''tárogatós''; ro, taragot or ''torogoata'') refers to two different woodwind instruments commonly used in both Hungarian and Romanian folk music. The ...

. Lloyd's primary band since 2007 has been a quartet including pianist

Jason Moran Jason Moran may refer to: * Jason Moran (criminal) (1967–2003), Australian mobster * Jason Moran (musician) Jason Moran (born January 21, 1975) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and educator involved in multimedia art and theatrical inst ...

, acoustic bassist

Reuben Rogers Reuben Renwick Rogers (born November 15, 1974) is a jazz bassist from the Virgin Islands. Biography Reuben Rogers was imbued with both groove and spirit from birth. Raised in the Virgin Islands by parents who were both ministers, Rogers grew up ...

, and drummer Eric Harland.

Early life and education

Charles Lloyd was born and grew up in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, United States, and was exposed to blues,

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

and

. He is of African, Cherokee, Mongolian, and Irish ancestry. He was given his first saxophone at the age of nine and was riveted by 1940s radio broadcasts by

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...

Coleman Hawkins Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first p ...

Lester Young Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most ...

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop s ...

and Duke Ellington. His early teachers included pianist

Phineas Newborn, Jr. Phineas Newborn Jr. (December 14, 1931 – May 26, 1989) was an American jazz pianist, whose principal influences were Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, and Bud Powell. Biography Newborn was born in Whiteville, Tennessee, and came from a musical famil ...

and saxophonist Irvin Reason. His closest childhood friend was trumpeter

Booker Little Booker Little Jr. (April 2, 1938 – October 5, 1961)
– accessed June 2010 was an American

. As a teenager Lloyd played jazz with saxophonist

George Coleman George Edward Coleman (born March 8, 1935) is an American jazz saxophonist known for his work with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the 1960s. In 2015, he was named an NEA Jazz Master. Early life Coleman was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He was ...

Harold Mabern Harold Mabern Jr. (March 20, 1936 – September 17, 2019) was an American jazz pianist and composer, principally in the hard bop, post-bop, and soul jazz fields.Feather, Leonard; Gitler, Ira (2007) ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz''. p. 4 ...

, and

Frank Strozier Frank R. Strozier Jr. (born June 13, 1937) is a jazz alto saxophonist. Strozier was born in Memphis, Tennessee, where he learned to play piano. In 1954, he moved to Chicago, where he performed with Harold Mabern, George Coleman, and Booker Litt ...

, and was a sideman for blues artists

Bobby "Blue" Bland Robert Calvin Bland (born Robert Calvin Brooks; January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013), known professionally as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an American blues singer. Bland developed a sound that mixed gospel with the blues and R&B. He was descr ...

Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade care ...

and

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...

, and R & B singer

Johnny Ace John Marshall Alexander Jr. (June 9, 1929 – December 25, 1954), known by the stage name Johnny Ace, was an American rhythm-and-blues singer. He had a string of hit singles in the mid 1950s. Alexander died of an accidental self-inflicted guns ...

. In 1956, Lloyd left Memphis for

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

to earn a degree in music at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

, where he studied with Bartók specialist

Halsey Stevens Halsey Stevens (December 3, 1908 – January 20, 1989) was a music professor, biographer, and composer of American music. Life Halsey Stevens was born in Scott, New York and educated at Syracuse University and the University of California, Ber ...

. At night, he played in jazz clubs with Ornette Coleman,

Billy Higgins Billy Higgins (October 11, 1936 – May 3, 2001) was an American jazz drummer. He played mainly free jazz and hard bop. Biography Higgins was born in Los Angeles, California, United States. Higgins played on Ornette Coleman's first records, ...

Scott LaFaro Rocco Scott LaFaro (April 3, 1936 – July 6, 1961) was an American jazz double bassist known for his work with the Bill Evans Trio. LaFaro broke new ground on the instrument, developing a countermelodic style of accompaniment rather than playing ...

Don Cherry Donald Stewart Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. Cherry played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins, and later coached the team for five se ...

Charlie Haden Charles Edward Haden (August 6, 1937 – July 11, 2014) was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator whose career spanned more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, he was an original member of the ground-breaking ...

, Eric Dolphy, Bobby Hutcherson and other leading west coast jazz artists. He also was a member of

Gerald Wilson Gerald Stanley Wilson (September 4, 1918 – September 8, 2014) was an American jazz trumpeter, big band bandleader, composer, arranger, and educator. Born in Mississippi, he was based in Los Angeles from the early 1940s. In addition to being a ...

's big band.

Career

In 1960, Lloyd was invited to become music director of Chico Hamilton's group, when Eric Dolphy left to join Charles Mingus's band. The Hungarian guitarist

Gábor Szabó Gábor István Szabó (March 8, 1936 – February 26, 1982) was a Hungarian American guitarist whose style incorporated jazz, pop, rock, and Hungarian music. Early years Szabó was born in Budapest, Hungary. He began playing guitar at the age ...

, bassist Albert "Sparky" Stinson, and trombonist Charles Bohanan soon joined Lloyd in the band. Hamilton's albums on

Impulse! Impulse! Records (occasionally styled as "¡mpulse! Records" and "¡!") is an American jazz record company and label established by Creed Taylor in 1960. John Coltrane was among Impulse!'s earliest signings. Thanks to consistent sales and positiv ...

, '' Passin' Thru'' and ''

Man from Two Worlds ''Man from Two Worlds'' is an album by American jazz drummer Chico Hamilton featuring performances recorded in 1963 for the Impulse! label.

'', featured music arranged and written almost entirely by Lloyd. He collaborated with Nigerian drummer

Babatunde Olatunji Michael Babatunde Olatunji (April 7, 1927 – April 6, 2003) was a Nigerian drummer, educator, social activist, and recording artist. Early life Olatunji was born in the village of Ajido, near Badagry, Lagos State, in southwestern Nige ...

, with whom he played when he was not on the road with Hamilton. He joined the Cannonball Adderley Sextet in 1964, and performed with

Nat Adderley Nathaniel Carlyle Adderley (November 25, 1931 – January 2, 2000) was an American jazz trumpeter. He was the younger brother of saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, whom he supported and played with for many years. Adderley's composition ...

, Joe Zawinul, Sam Jones and

Louis Hayes Louis Hayes (born May 31, 1937) is an American jazz drummer and band leader. He was with McCoy Tyner's trio for more than three years. Since 1989 he has led his own band, and together with Vincent Herring formed the Cannonball Legacy Band. He ...

. For two years he remained with Cannonball Adderley, whom he credits in his own development as a leader. In 1964, Lloyd signed with CBS Records and began to record as a leader. His Columbia recordings, ''

Discovery! ''Discovery!'' is the debut album by jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd released on the Columbia label featuring performances by Lloyd with Don Friedman, Eddie Khan, Roy Haynes, Richard Davis and J.C. Moses. The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awa ...

'' (1964), and '' Of Course, Of Course'' (1965), led to his being voted '' DownBeat'' magazine's "New Star." He was also one of the well known and notable supporting musicians of

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by the ...

in their live performances. ''Of Course, Of Course'' was reissued by Mosaic Records in 2006. In March 2021,

Blue Note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical c ...

released ''Tone Poem'', the third album by Charles Lloyd & the Marvels. In addition to three new Lloyd originals, it features compositions by

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

, Ornette Coleman,

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", ...

, Bola de Nieve, and

Quartet

In New York in 1966, Lloyd formed his "classic quartet" with drummer Jack DeJohnette, pianist Keith Jarrett and bassist Cecil McBee (continued on by Ron McClure). The Quartet's 1966 live album, ''Forest Flower'', recorded at the Monterey Jazz Festival, was one of the most successful jazz recordings of the mid-1960s, building a heterogeneous audience of rock as well as jazz fans in the prospering hippie counterculture. The Quartet toured across America and Europe. In 1967, Lloyd was voted "Jazz Artist of the Year" by '' DownBeat'' magazine. Lloyd is given credit for anticipating world music by incorporating music from other cultures into his compositions, as early as the late 1950s. He describes his music as having "danced on many shores". Peter Watrous stated, "Lloyd has come up with a strange and beautiful distillation of the American experience, part abandoned and wild, part immensely controlled and sophisticated." Despite recording several albums during the 1970s and occasionally appearing as a sideman, he practically disappeared from the jazz scene. While practicing Transcendental Meditation in the 1970s, Lloyd played extensively with

, both on their studio recordings and as a member of their touring band; several members of the group shared his affinity for the technique. Lloyd recorded at Brian Wilson's home studio during this period and has recalled that Brian and several other members of The Beach Boys performed on these recordings, some of which (e.g. "All Life Is One") were included on Lloyd's 1971 LP 'Warm Waters', and which also featured Quicksilver Messenger Service lead guitarist John Cipollina. Lloyd also was a member of Celebration (1970s band), Celebration, a band consisting of members of the Beach Boys' touring band as well as Mike Love and Al Jardine. Celebration released two albums. Lloyd returned to the jazz world in 1981 when he toured with Michel Petrucciani. British jazz critic Brian Case called Lloyd's return "one of the events of the 1980s." The group produced a special edition cassette, ''Night Blooming Jasmine'', and two live records, ''Montreux 82'' and ''A Night in Copenhagen'', which also features Bobby McFerrin. After the tour, Lloyd again retreated to Big Sur. In 1986, after being hospitalized with a nearly fatal medical condition, Lloyd rededicated himself to music. When he regained his strength in 1988, he formed a new quartet with Swedish pianist Bobo Stenson. When Lloyd returned to the Montreux Jazz Festival, Montreux Festival in 1988, Swiss critic Yvan Ischer wrote: "To see and hear Charles Lloyd in concert is always an event, not only because this saxophonist has been at quite a few crossroads, but also because he seems to hold an impalpable truth which makes him a thoroughly original musician...This is what we call grace."

Recording for ECM

In 1989, Lloyd made his first recording for ECM Records, ''Fish Out of Water (Charles Lloyd album), Fish Out of Water''. Manfred Eicher, ECM's founder and producer, compared the recording to a Giacometti painting, saying, "I really believe this is the refined essence of what music should be. All the meat is gone, only the bones remain." From 1989, Lloyd toured and recorded for ECM. His albums for the label include ''Canto (Charles Lloyd album), Canto'', ''Voice in the Night (Charles Lloyd album), Voice in the Night'', ''The Water Is Wide (Charles Lloyd album), The Water Is Wide'' (featuring Brad Mehldau, John Abercrombie (guitarist), John Abercrombie, Larry Grenadier and Billy Higgins), ''Lift Every Voice (Charles Lloyd album), Lift Every Voice'' (featuring Geri Allen), and the live ''Rabo de Nube'' (with

). Lloyd's albums for ECM contain elements of world music and experimentation, as in the duets on ''Which Way Is East'' with his longtime friend,

. ''Mirror (Charles Lloyd album), Mirror'', his second recording with the New Quartet (2010), has been called a "Charles Lloyd classic." ''Rabo de Nube'', also on ECM, captured the quartet "live" at its inception, and was voted No. 1 recording for the 2008 ''JazzTimes'' Reader's and Critic's Poll. Lloyd collaborated with the classical Greek singer, Maria Farantouri, for a concert at the Herodion Theater at the Acropolis. ''Ta Nea''. A newspaper in Athens, stated "Music has no borders...The audience was filled with a Dionysian ecstasy. While the music had reminiscences of a Hypiros fair, at the same time it took you to the heart of New York City." This concert was recorded and ''Athens Concert'' was released by ECM in 2011. Lloyd celebrated his 75th birthday in 2013 with concerts in the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the Kennedy Center Concert Hall in Washington, D.C. On June 25, 2014 it was announced that Lloyd was to receive the NEA Jazz Masters Award 2015. Lloyd was the Honoree at the 2014 Monterey Jazz Festival Jazz Legends Gala, hosted by Herbie Hancock. Lloyd was the recipient of the 2014 Alfa Jazz Fest International Music Award. In January 2015, it was announced that Lloyd had signed with Blue Note Records. ''Wild Man Dance'', a live recording of a long-form suite commissioned by the Jazztopad Festival in Wroclaw, Poland, was released in April 2015. Lloyd was presented with an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the Berklee College of Music in a ceremony at the Umbria Jazz Festival in July 2015. In 2016, Lloyd was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame.

Personal life

Lloyd lives in Southern California with his wife, Dorothy Darr.

Discography

As leader

As sideman

Filmography

* ''The Monk and the Mermaid'' - A documentary film by Fara C & Giuseppe De Vecchi
Oleo films
- Forest Farm + Art - Mezzo TV - 2008 * ''Arrows Into Infinity'' - A film by Dorothy Darr & Jeffery Morse - Forest Farm + Art - 2013 * ''LOVE LONGING LOSS - At Home with Charles Lloyd During a Year of the Plague'' - A film by Dorothy Darr
Pierre Boulez SAAL
- 2021

References

External links

*
Jazz.com Biography

Charles Lloyd on ECM Records

Fotos Charles Lloyd Trio – Jazzit Salzburg April 2007

''Jazz Times'' interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lloyd, Charles Avant-garde jazz musicians African-American jazz musicians American jazz tenor saxophonists American male saxophonists American jazz flautists Jazz musicians from California Musicians from Memphis, Tennessee 1938 births Living people The Beach Boys backing band members ECM Records artists Atlantic Records artists A&M Records artists Blue Note Records artists Columbia Records artists Elektra Records artists 20th-century saxophonists American male jazz musicians Cannonball Adderley Quintet members Resonance Records artists 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American saxophonists 21st-century American male musicians 20th-century flautists 21st-century flautists