Charles Lloyd at Cleveland's Tri-C JazzFest, April 2005

BlueMiles · April-18th-2005, 10:55 PM

The Charles Lloyd Quartet played at Tri-C on Sunday night. Actually, I found that the music was not as accessible as I would have expected. I was hoping it would be friendlier to the jazz "novices" (friends) who accompanied me. The tunes were usually quite long, and there were many lengthy bass and drums solos. Lloyd played fewer spirituals and ballads than I expected. I think the first piece was literally a 40-minute version of “Go Down Moses,” which actually is a spiritual, and a version of it appeared on “Lift Every Voice.” That’s a pretty intense version, but this live version was a sprawling, free-wheeling explosion. It was rather extraordinary.

Charles Lloyd looks like a frail man, and several times he sat down on a bench next to the piano--resting while other members soloed. He never spoke at all, and afterward my friend Mary asked me if he could speak. I responded by saying that I thought so, but then again maybe he has lost his voice recently. He acknowledged the audience by folding his hands and raising them high. As a musician he showed no signs of age at all. His playing was often fast, fiery, and burly. His recent ECM albums have relied essentially on mellow, melodic, spiritual elements. At the concert, Lloyd had a few spots where he showcased a beautiful, rather whispery tone. But these were not frequent. This was a band that was really kicking. Geri Allen positively thundered on piano; bassist Reuben Rogers played a very agile and resonant bass; Eric Harland banged the drum kit with lots of fire and energy (but unlike Lloyd’s old pal, Billy Higgins, was pretty lacking in subtlety). Certainly this band has a different quality in concert than on record. In its frequent incantatory and even ferocious moments, it recalled the great Coltrane Quartet.

I think Lloyd played Trane’s “Bessie Blues,” interestingly enough on the flute. That was pretty accessible, as was the last piece (an encore). This was a hard-driving bebop type number which showed that Lloyd could really wail on the sax even at the end of a long evening.

I had hoped Lloyd would play “Come Sunday,” which appears on his just-released CD. It’s such an ideal piece for him, and anyway the concert took place on Sunday! And I’m sure it would have been a crowd favorite.

I was quite impressed by Geri Allen, but nonetheless I would have been more interested in hearing the band with John Abercrombie on guitar (he’s on 4 of the ECM albums).

I must also add that this was about the most enthusiastic crowd I’ve seen at Tri-C, or perhaps anywhere. I couldn’t count the number of times spontaneous applause broke out in the middle of solos.

Freetoojazz · May-15th-2005, 10:16 AM

A long time ago, when Lloyd came to Montreal for the Water is Wide tour, i was expect to ears a lot of ballad song. I thought it will be a kind of easy night. Surprise! He was with Geri Allen, Marc Johnson, John Abercrombie and Billy Hart.

They were not here for ballad, but for speed song, sometimes near to free jazz. Near my table, someone forget to close is phone cell. Lloyd didn't like that, he's looking up where the phone were ringing, and begin a long speech (maybe 10 minutes non-stop).

gonzo · May-19th-2005, 05:09 AM

can you blame him!!

Freetoojazz · May-23rd-2005, 10:19 PM

Absolutely not! He was right to make a long speech. Unfortunately, i'm not used to understand people who speak too fast, and Lloyd spoke very fast.

This night is avalaible on DVD. I don't known if they cut the speech on it! In the french magazine Jazzman of April, they deserve only two stars. This is a bad score.