Charles Lloyd

Iconic saxophonist Charles Lloyd continues his innovative trajectory into the upper spheres of jazz and the spiritual realms of wonder and beauty. Lloyd’s legendary career spans back to the 1950s. In 1964 he joined The Cannonball Adderley Sextet, then formed his own quartet in 1965 that introduced the jazz world to the talents of pianist Keith Jarrett, drummer Jack DeJohnette and bassist Cecil McBee. Their album Forest Flower: Live at Monterey made history as one of the first jazz recordings to sell a million copies and became a stunning crossover success that appealed to a popular mass market audience. They were the first jazz group to appear at the famed Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco and to play in the USSR by invitation of the Soviet people rather than through government sponsorship. Lloyd was voted “Jazz Artist of the Year” in 1967 by Down Beat and is credited by many musicians with anticipating the World Music movement by incorporating cadences of many cultures into his compositions as early as the late 1950s. In 2015 he basked in a banner year that included receiving the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters honor and marking a triumphant return to Blue Note Records with his remarkable live album Wild Man Dance.

For Blue Note At Sea, Lloyd is bringing along the powerhouse quintet that he enlisted for his latest album I Long to See You. Appropriately named The Marvels, it consists of the rhythmic core of his stalwart New Quartet ensemble—bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland—and top-tier collaborators guitarist extraordinaire Bill Frisell and stellar pedal steel guitarist Greg Leisz.