Just heard the New Quartet, with Jason Moran, Rueben Rogers, and Eric Harland here in Buffalo -- right in front of him, about 20 feet away... Inspiring, astonishing, stunning! I had to remind myself to breath from time to time. 2011 is young, but it's gonna be hard to top this performance this year! Anyways...
I saw him at Rose Hall/JALC in NYC on Saturday night - I think maybe the night before he went to Buffalo. Yes, it was absolutely breathtaking! One of the best live shows I've ever seen.
I missed him this time through Boston but have seen him on several wonderful occasions. If you've never seen him and you have a chance you'll do yourself a great favor by checking him out.
I like Charles Lloyd. I enjoy his recordings. But: LIVE: man, I was *gobsmacked*! I expected it to be great, but it was almost ... I don't know ... you could laugh and cry and hug the person next to you because you were sharing something so stunning and rare. I'll stop now, but I just did not expect that. I expected, you know, a really ripping jazz performance. The thing was that, but it was also something else. It's why I love this music.
Lovely, lyrical playing, and Lloyd's quiet charisma. Intensity. The rhythm section was thrilling. Like I said, I'll stop now.
Kelly, I know what you're talking about. When I saw him with the same musicians at Ottawa's Jazz Festival two years ago I cried ,laughed ,felt buzzed, was stuck dumb,spontaneously got up and danced...all this and an extremely impressive jazz show too. Charles Lloyd is the real deal!!!
Lloyd was ten when he first heard Lester Young's recording of "I'm Confessin'," which established the template that fuels his ongoing predisposition to convey tender sentiments through his instrumental voice. "That's partly why I still play these beautiful saxophones from the 1920s and the 1930s," he told the Santa Barbara reporter. "They have the pre-war feeling; the metal is different. Of course a younger player today might not appreciate these older instruments because they don't have the flash, the speed of the best new horns. It's like there are these Ferraris out there, but I've sacrificed that glitziness for the burnished feel of an old Packard."
Besides the high artistic integrity, Charles is a master at choosing his sidemen. But contrary to others, I was a bit disappointed with his last CD, Mirrors. I own virtually every Charles Lloyd CD and this last one is basically a remake of songs from other CDs. Also, his intonation isn't as tight as it has been in other records. Still, a good CD. My favorite of his is "Canto".
Off: he is indeed the real deal. I haven't checked out his stuff in, oh, the last decade or so, so I'm looking forward to checking it all out...
Rory: he was indeed playing some sort of Conn -- split bell keys, so I guess that's not a 10M -- and appeared to be gold-plated...
That afternoon, before the gig, I'd practiced on my 10M, because my VI needs some work -- and seeing CL hours later playing a Conn made me feel like -- okay, let's give this thing a shot for a while...
jlima: thanks for the suggestion of Canto -- I'll check it out...
Off: he is indeed the real deal. I haven't checked out his stuff in, oh, the last decade or so, so I'm looking forward to checking it all out...
Rory: he was indeed playing some sort of Conn -- split bell keys, so I guess that's not a 10M -- and appeared to be gold-plated...
That afternoon, before the gig, I'd practiced on my 10M, because my VI needs some work -- and seeing CL hours later playing a Conn made me feel like -- okay, let's give this thing a shot for a while...
jlima: thanks for the suggestion of Canto -- I'll check it out...
Kelly, definitely give the 10M a shot for a while. I just got mine back earlier tonite from my repairman. It certainly has a vibe that no Selmer can quite catch. Especially a VI. I can only imagine how different the 10M feels (and blows) to you compared to your VI. The feel of my 10M isn't incredibly different from my Super, but when I play the two horns back to back, it's amazing how much more spread and "tubby" the 10M is, even compared to what I think is already a fairly spread/tubby sounding Super that I own.
CL's Conn sounds to me like a "Chu", since you mentioned the bell keys being on both sides.
Hey, John! Yeah, man, I'm definitely going to stick with the Conn for a bit -- it's got a really great character to the sound. I played it at my regular Monday night jazz extravaganza, and the bass player was raving about how much he digs the Conn tenor sound, and said he can always tell when someone's playing one!
The ergos are actually very doable -- I'm mean, how could I say they ain't, since I've just heard Charles Lloyd do whatever the hell he wanted with impunity, and can watch Dexter et al on YouTube being as nimble as can be!
The only issues I have are with the balance of the horn, and with the G# trill key, which kind of flops around a bit while I'm playing... But: I'm dealing!
Hey, John! Yeah, man, I'm definitely going to stick with the Conn for a bit -- it's got a really great character to the sound. I played it at my regular Monday night jazz extravaganza, and the bass player was raving about how much he digs the Conn tenor sound, and said he can always tell when someone's playing one!
The ergos are actually very doable -- I'm mean, how could I say they ain't, since I've just heard Charles Lloyd do whatever the hell he wanted with impunity, and can watch Dexter et al on YouTube being as nimble as can be!
The only issues I have are with the balance of the horn, and with the G# trill key, which kind of flops around a bit while I'm playing... But: I'm dealing!
Kelly, I completely hear ya in regards to that G# "gizmo" key. Mine still has it as well, but I've seen and played other 10M's that they've been removed from. Mine doesn't rattle around noticeably, but every once in a while my middle RH finger brushes against it when I'm playing and that does feel kinda odd.
Balance of the horn is definitely different as well. Plus the angle of the neck as I bring it into my mouth is quite different than my Super. I have to pull up on my strap just a tad to make up for the angle difference, which at first feels odd, but 5 minutes later I don't notice it at all. They're definitely great horns and I'd love to hear you on the thing! Speaking of which, may the fleas of a thousand camels infest your armpits for not giving me a call when you were in Wausau over Christmas!!
One of the great memories I have is Charles Lloyd, Keith Jarrett, Cecil McBee and Jack DeJohnette at the Fillmore East, maybe '69 or '70 (hard to say,IYKWIM).
But his latest recorded works are just beautiful and I need to go!
The live album from the Soviet Union was one of my first jazz records. I went to the 2nd-hand shop looking for Forest Flower and that was the one they had.
omg, who else was on that ticket? Must have been a mind blowing evening to say the least.... little before my time, seeing Count Basie around 1980 was one of my first jazz experiences...
I think it was the Paul Butterfield Band(with Sanborn and Gene Dinwiddie on saxes). Probably more likely '69.
For folks who never heard Dinwiddie- what a killer tenor player, via Chicago and an early member of the AACM there.
Saw Joe Henderson at the Vanguard in 1987 sat a few feet from the stage and felt the same way.
I just started listening to Charles Lloyd in the last 6 months...Wow.I have been missing out.
He has traveled with one or two gold plated Conn tenors for many years. I am not certain but I believe they are New Wonders and not New Wonder II's. His sound on all his instruments is really something sublime.
Lloyd is scheduled to play at a festival down this way next summer - really looking forward to it. When I was a kid in the 50's I listened to a lot of Brubeck and Chico Hamilton. I really preferred that sound to the funky hard bop stuff my friend was always trying to get me to listen to. He called me up one day, "Hey, I've got bad news - Chico's deserted you." Evidently he'd recorded a new band with a new sound. The album was Drumfusion with Gabor Szabo on guitar and Charles Lloyd covering the woodwind slot. It was a revelation. My taste in jazz significantly changed and I made the decision to start playing tenor sax.
im always diggin my Cannonball Adderly Sextet on Jazz 625 videos with Lloyd...its always a gas to se the expression on Cannonball's face when Charles is takin a ride!!!
Has anyone listed to his double CD "Lift every voice" (2001, I think)? It's sublime! What I love in Charles' music is what I call its "spiritual density". It's hard to explain, but the music goes well beyond the instrument and the technique, it speaks at a much deeper level.
I saw Keith play soprano when he had the group with Dewey. He had a super snakey tone that was actually really great.
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