Something for me to look forward to! Seeing them on April 11 or so.
I went to see the Charles Lloyd Quartet last night in a celebration of his 70th birthday. With him were Jason Moran on piano, Eric Harland on drums, and Reuben Rogers on bass. Without notice, tabla (hand drum) master Zakir Hussein joined the quartet for most of the set. In sum,
Charles fucking Lloyd is the muthafucking Man!
He played well even though his sax was fucked up from being dropped that day, and his tone by the end of a rich 2-hour set was really sweet. He also played flute, clarinet, 4-handed piano with Moran, and maracas, and danced around the stage and hovered over the youngsters like a proud father. But he clearly let them run and did not hold them back. If anything, you could see their admiration and inspiration from the man, without that stand-offish idolizing that sometimes happens with young players supporting great old timers. Here, instead of that, the quartet was amaZing, individually and together, and Zakir really added some great shit on talbas and percussion. Lloyd, Harlan and Hussein also play together separately and that really showed in some interplay between them was great including call and response drumming, vocal tone "singing" and scatting. Hard to describe in writing but great in action.
I guess I am violating Charles Lloyd's last comments by describing the show. He said that what went on tonight is personal and private and should be kept to ourselves. "Don't let THEM know, that YOU know, what WE know!" Oh well, I had to share it anyway.
Go see this cat wherever and whenever you can. Some amazing shit that I am so glad I did not miss to see Ray Davies (as per earlier thread).