Jazz Police - Charles Lloyd New Quartet fearuing Maria Farantouri in San Francisco, April 22nd

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Charles Lloyd New Quartet fearuing Maria Farantouri in San Francisco, April 22nd

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Saturday, 25 May 2013

Charles Lloyd New Quartet fearuing Maria Farantouri in San Francisco, April 22nd

Written by Ronaldo Oregano

Sunday, 15 April 2012

"Charles Lloyd’s music, at least from the past decade, has always suggested the traditions of ancient cultures; his interpretations of that music, and his collaboration with Farantouri, backed by the sympathetic musicianship of his much younger cohorts, merge here as the penultimate fusion of his career. Magnificent, transcendent music." - Andrea Canter, Jazz Police

Maria Farantouri and Charles Lloyd

Charles Lloyd's latest group, dubbed the New Quartet will perform with vocalist Maria Farantouri at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco at 7:00 p.m. on Sunsay, April 22nd. Lloyd’s current group is a perfect setting for the heralded young pianist and recent MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient Jason Moran, who was named DownBeat’s 2011 Jazz Artist of the Year and has been selected as a Guest Artistic Director for the new SFJAZZ Center in 2013. Bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland round out the rhythm section, joined by special guest Maria Farantouri, whose incandescent vocals are featured throughout Athens Concert, Lloyd’s recent double album [click here for a Jazz Police review ].

Charles Lloyd © Andrea Canter

During the early 1960's Charles Lloyd recorded two albums as a leader with other young musicians including Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. Following that Lloyd led a quartet with pianist Keith Jarrett, bassist Cecil McBee (afterwards, Ron McClure), and drummer Jack DeJohnette whose music was an groundbreaking fusion of straight-ahead post-bop, free jazz, and soul jazz. They also achieved a significant amount of crossover success with rock fans and became the first jazz group to play in the Fillmore. SInce 1989, Lloyd has toured actively and recorded for the ECM label. These recordings reveal Lloyd's depth and sensitivity as a ballad player - particularly on Voice in the Night, The Water Is Wide (featuring Brad Mehldau, John Abercrombie and Billy Higgins) and Lift Every Voice (featuring Geri Allen).

Reuben Rogers© Andrea Canter

Memphis-born Lloyd has played with some exceptional pianists in the course of his long career, starting with Phineas Newborn in his home town, with Joe Zawinul in the Cannonball Adderley group, and with Keith Jarrett, whom Lloyd introduced in his pioneering group of the 1960s. Subsequent Lloyd quartet pianists have included Michel Petrucciani, Bobo Stenson, Brad Mehldau, and Geri Allen.

Jason Moran © Andrea Canter

Jason Moran is a perfect addition to Lloyd's quartet. As the New York Times once observed, Moran reaches both further back in the jazz tradition and further outside it than most of his contemporaries. His strongly chordal approach and his percussive originality took off from an early interest in Thelonious Monk, but Moran (born 1975) studied with three great teachers – Jaki Byard, Andrew Hill, and Muhal Richard Abrams – who encouraged him to find his own path. He has recorded a number of critically-acclaimed albums as a leader, won a number of prizes including the Jazz Journalists Association’s Pianist of the Year Award, and performed with many great musicians from Wayne Shorter to Lee Konitz.

Reuben Rogers, born in the Virgin Islands in 1974, played clarinet, guitar and drums before settling on the double-bass as his instrument of choice. In his Caribbean homeland he grew up exposed to calypso and reggae as well as jazz and some of that music’s dancing swing seems to have been integrated into his sound, and by extension, into the very elastic grooves he creates with Harland. Reuben Rogers’s other musical affiliations have included work with Nicholas Payton, Diane Reeves, Jackie McLean, Roy Hargrove and Mulgrew Miller.

Eric Harland © Andrea Canter

Eric Harland, now widely acknowledged as one of the most creative drummers of his generation, took up the drums inspired by Elvin Jones on “A Love Supreme”, going on to play with McCoy Tyner and Pharoah Sanders as well as Ravi Coltrane, and a host of other musicians including Joshua Redman, Joe Henderson, Betty Carter. The list goes on. For the last decade he has also been part of pianist Aaron Goldberg’s trio, with Reuben Rogers on bass. Latterly the drummer and bassist have also been playing trio (as well as quartet) concerts with Charles Lloyd. Harland plays, additionally in Lloyd’s other trio with tabla master Zakir Hussain.

Maria Farantouri, whose incandescent vocals are featured throughout Athens Concert, Lloyd’s latest album. An artist widely embraced in her native Greece, Farantouri was the legendary voice of resistance during the Greek military junta of the late ‘60s, giving hope to millions through the banned protest songs of Mikis Theodorakis and earning widespread praise as the “soul of Greece.”