So few jazz artists are able to have a successful career at their chosen profession. Charles Lloyd, elder statesman of the tenor sax, has been blessed twice with being able to be regarded both commercially and critically among his peers and fans. Back in the late 60s, during the heyday of rock and roll when jazz artists had to resort to driving taxis to make ends meet, Lloyd rode a wave of popularity , playing at venues like the Fillmore West in support of advanced music with the likes of Keith Jarrett, Cecil McBee and Jack DeJohnette on classic albums such as Forest Flower and The Flowering.
After this crashing wave of success, Lloyd dropped out of the music scene, moved to central California and worked on a different type of woodshedding, getting his spirit back to where he felt it should go. Usually in the music business, out of sight means out of mind which means out of work, but back in the 80s, he linked up with pianist Michel Petrucciani, starting a second high tide of musical success, reaching a zenith when he joined up with the ECM label in 1989. Now in his 70s, Lloyd is steel reaching forward musically and spiritually, having travelled to Greece, the country where Western Civiization and religion began. His latest disc is from a concert in Athens, combining modern day jazz with traditional Hellenic melodies and rhythms. The fascinating music finds Lloyd with his regular band of Jason Moran/p, Rueben Rogers/b and Eric Harland/dr being accompanied by Greek artists and legends such as vocalist Maria Farantouri and lyra master Socratis Sinopoulis. The music is a creation that would please music fans ranging from Dionysus to Coltrane.
Lloyd’s musical journey started in Memphis, after which he came to LA and joined Gerald Wilson’s Orchestra. Lloyd has fond memories of those early days of his boss, who is still alive and performing as well, stating, “Gerald Wilson is also from Memphis. A lot of young players were in his big band. It was a great learning experience for me. He’s a legendand a great spirit.”
The musical success of being in the LA scene back in the early 60s,and getting caught up in the pop/rock scene adulation of the late 60s created a void in Lloyd’s life instead of filling one. He recalls, “Everybody has to follow their own bells. When I disbanded my quartet in 1969/70 it was because I was disillusioned and needed a break from thebusiness of musicand life on the road. I did not know how long I would be gone. I moved from NYC to California and started a processof healing. I had a lot of inner work to do, and cleansing from years of excess and abuse. Eventually, I moved form Malibu to Big Surand became even more reclusive. The years stretched out. 1 – 3- 9 – 10.”
As it is so easy to do once going into a spiritual retreat, the return into “the real world” can be an intimidating venture. There is something about the peace of having a “mountain top experience” that makes you want to stay there longer than you should. Novels and movies like The Razor’s Edge about this type of struggle are legend. Fortunately for Lloyd, he had a muse to help him return from his monastic life, as he remembers, “Then I met Michel Petrucciani who had come to Big Sur in the winter of
1981 to visit a friend. I heard a great talent and I wanted to help. So that took me off of my mountain for a year or two. But I went back. It was not until I nearly died in 1986, that I decided to rededicate myself to this indigenous art form; jazz. “
His fledging renaissance hit mid stride when he found a label that he felt comfortable with, stating “ECM has been a good home for me. I have the freedom I need and caring people to work with.” His albums during the last few years such as Which Way Is East and Mirror display a rejuvenated artist.What’s even more surprising in this age of musical conservatism, is that Lloyd’s music has never been compromised by one iota, and yet his band audience consists largely of people young enough to be his children. One of the few jazz artists to attract generation Xers, Lloyd is not surprised by the lack of a musical generation gap,” I don’t think the language of music, of ideas, or creativity has an age restriction. But you would have to ask the younger musicians themselves, as to why theywant to be with me. I can’t speak for them.”
As for his latest album Athens Concert, Lloyd comes full circle, playing the music of a country that all but invented the sounds and rhythms we take for granted. Still, Lloyd had never immersed himself before in the traditional sounds of the Adriatic Sea, but, as he points out, “If one lives in the world of music or goes to the movies, it is not hard to hear Greek music at some point. But I had not heard a lot of it until I met Maria Farantouri10 years ago. It was not the fact that she was singing Greek music, but the power of her soul that was revealed through her singing. She is very deep. When ever I was in Greece for a concert, I would invite her to join me for one or two songs. My wife and Ibecame very close friends with her, and we began to plan a collaboration that would be a combination of my songs and a panorama of Greek song spanning several centuries. Of course, Theodorakis was known to me, and it was an honor to have him sitting in front of meduring our concert in Athens at the Herodion.” Anyone who has seen the classic movie Zorba the Greek with Anthony Quinn is familiar with the enticing sounds and rhythms of Theodrakis, but the comination of Hellenic atmospheres and forward thinking jazz is a gift from Mt. Olympus.
Another musical side of Greece is the monastic chants from the monasteries like Mt. Athos (where this writer had an uncle who lived there as a monk) Lloyd was taken in by these celestial and eternally sounding voices that have been giving praises to God for 2000 years. “ I love the mystery of the Byzantine music, “ he exudes. “And there is still a feeling of a divine mystery when the monks sing during mass in a tiny orthodox church.When I am in Athens there is one in particular, I go to at 6am to hear them sing.”
Since performing in Greece, Lloyd has become more intrigued by its history, from the classical period of 500-400 BC when ideas like democracy were starting to form, to the spread of Christianity from a small tribe of true believers. Lloyd has become a fan of Western Civilization’s cradle as “Through Maria and her friends, I have seen many parts of Greece – Epidarus, Sunio, the Temple of Apollo. And to have had a concert on the ancientstones of the Herodion at the foot of the Acropolis where so many stood before me to deliver a soliloquy or an aria like Maria Callas, or aleap like Nureyev, this was an amazing experience.” There is something about seeing remnants of civilizations from 4000 years, and walking through sites that have seen the likes of Plato, Leonidis, Hippocrates, Apostle Paul, St. John Chrysostom. It puts your life in perspective when you realize that the same concerns that take up your time, things like making a living, raising a family, health, injustice, wondering about heaven and hell; these have been the worries of people since the dawn of civilization. We’re not alone, but simply carrying on a baton that has been passed to us. It makes life a bit easier, doesn’t it.
Lloyd confirms this with his career, taking his lessons from his teachers, both musical and spiritual, and using them to work on not only his own life, but the lives of others. As he reflects the heritage from Greece, he concludes, “Everything in life is a preparation for the final breath.” Hopefully, like Lloyd, we will take the time to prepare wisely.