There is a reason that although one day short of being 87 years old, jazz artist Charles Lloyd is still able to fill the Lobero Theatre and keep the attendees rapt and attentive with music that never got above a calm conversation. Joined by pianist Jason Moran and guitarist Marvin Sewell, Lloyd brings the ideas an worldview from his home in Big Sur and create is 110 minutes of music akin to the mellowness and refreshment of The Esalen Institute. But instead of hot tubs with a view of the Pacific Ocean and hot rock massages, Lloyd lets his melodies and tones create a musical balm as a retreat from the chaos and agitation of the modern world. Even the backdrop to the musicians set the milieu, with pictures and films of shifting sands, doves, fountains and paintings of nature akin to strolling through a Gaughuin museum.
The mood was set with Moran opening things up with a gentle intro to the hymn “Abide With Me”, with Sewell providing reflective chords and Lloyd blowing delicate encouragements. Other times, Lloyd showed that he could also be a bit loose and frisky, fluttering like a butterfly following Sewell’s indigo’d pickings on “Evanstide, Where Lotus Bloom” or playing cat and mouse with Moran’s classical passions on “Ghost of Lady Day”.
Moran created somber dark and thunderous rumbles with a left hand that foretold lightning about to strike, with Lloyd adding foreboding nimbus clouds on “Blues for Langston LaRue”. Sewell took the listeners to a trip to the swampy delta with some rich sliding guitar and Moran dug into a Harlem stride under Lloyd’s rich and floating flute during “Song My Lady Sings” before Moran’s impressionistic piano delivered a Fado serenade along with the leader on a yearning serenade of “La Llorna”.
For an encore, the trio summed up the evening with a bel canto take of “Somewhere”, and Lloyd reciting a poem that mixed parts of Ecclesiastes, Hinduism and Buddhism to encourage the pilgrim in all of us to continue on our path. As tasty and fulfilling as a meal at Nepenthe, with the satiated audience ready for more. Timeless tones reach Santa Barbara from the saxophone seeker.
Upcoming shows at The Lobero include Asleep At The Wheel 03/26, Derek Douget 04/25, Bruce Cockburn 04/24, Bill Frisell 05/15 and The Hot Sardines 05/24