San Diego Reader 2023 Music & Arts issue
San Diego Reader
By MATTHEW LICKONA, THOMAS K. ARNOLD, DRYW KELTZ, ANDREW HAMLIN, ROBERT BUSH, GARRETT HARRIS, SPIKE STEFFENHAGEN
Saxophonist Charles Lloyd has long been revered in jazz, ever since he broke into the national consciousness in the mid-1960s. All these years later, he continues to inspire audiences with performances that border on spiritual experiences. When Lloyd and his much younger bandmates (Gerald Clayton, piano; Anthony Wilson, guitar; Larry Grenadier, bass) casually arrived on stage at the Irwin M. Jacobs Qualcomm Hall on March 17, the sold-out crowd seemed captivated before the first note was played. Lloyd began a capella, with slow, deliberately pensive and breathy tones. The band began to fill in with support around him. He took a long, pointed solo, followed by virtuosic statements from Wilson and Clayton. We were 20 minutes into the first piece before I really noticed that there wasn’t a drummer on stage. That’s how effective Grenadier was in holding things together. The hall seats more than 500 patrons, and the sound in the room was crystal clear. Lloyd used the opening piece as a template for the evening, which concentrated on ballads — with the exception of one spritely tune on the flute in a Latin-tinged vein. Afterward, many patrons commented on the church-like spirit of it all.
https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2023/mar/29/special-issue-hello-show/