Charles Lloyd (right) and Larry Grenadier live at the Lobero Theatre, Santa Barbara, CA, October 2023
D.DARR
THE career of 86-year-old tenor saxophonist, flautist and composer Charles Lloyd is a long and fascinating one. He grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was given his first saxophone at the age of nine and became friends with trumpeter Booker Little. In 1956 he headed to LA to pursue a degree in music, playing with the likes of Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry and Eric Dolphy in jazz clubs by night. After California came New York, where Lloyd recorded his first album as leader, Discovery!. Afertile period followed throughout the rest of the ’60s and into the ‘70s, including a memorable set recorded at the Monterey Jazz Festival. Released in 1966 as Forest Flower, it became one of the most successful jazz records of the era, bridging a gap between jazz, rock and the peacefully stoned heart of the counterculture movement.