Charles Lloydi ansambli ilmumine 1967. aasta Tallinna Rahvusvahelisele Dzhässifestivalile oli siin vaieldamatult tähelepanuväärne sündmus. Sama oluline ja olulisemgi veel oli kvartett kuuekümnendate lõpu eksperimentidele valla suures maailmas. Mõlemad faktid on ümberlükkamatult olulise ajaloolise tähendusega. Lühidalt: tagantjärele peetakse Lloydi jazzi päästjaks, kaduma kippunud publikule lähendajaks ja värskendava impulsi andjaks.
Charles Lloyd Quartet 1967
Mõned aastad tagasi kirjutas Tom Conrad ajakirjas Down Beat saksofonisti toonase panuse kohta, et ta “tõi kokku avangardi vabaduse, impressionistlikud harmooniad, elemendid muusikast, mida praegu nimetatakse maailmamuusikaks ning variatsioonid rockirütmidel.” Piisavalt loominguline, kuulajasõbralik ja kommertslikus mõttes edukas tulemus tagas talle mõneks ajaks staari staatuse, plaati “Florest Flower” müüdi üle miljoni eksemplari ning järgijate sekka sattus isegi korüfee Miles Davis ise. Siis Charles Lloyd taandus areenilt ja süvenes meditatsioonidesse.
Veidi kummaline oli ta algusest peale. Mongoli-iiri-aafrika-indiaani päritolu Charles sai korraliku hariduse, kümneselt lasi ennast võluda Charlie Parkeri saksofonipassaazhidest, teismelisena mängis B.B. Kingi, Howling Wolfi ja teiste bluusimeeste saatebändides, noorukieas sai süvamuusika alase diplomi ülikoolist ning seejärel sukeldus pealaest jalatallani jazzi. Chico Hamiltoni grupis mängides avaldas talle muljet vaba jazzi otsihimuline vaim ning John Coltrane’i improvisatsioonide vaimsus. Kui ta mõned aastad hiljem oma kvartetiga värske ja põnevana areenile sööstis, märkisid paljud kriitikud ja kaasmuusikud, et Lloyd on karismaatiline isiksus, kes suudab inimesi lummata nii oma oleku kui ka muusikaga. Kui ta vabatahtlikult rambivalgusest lahkus, loobus kümneks aastaks avalikest esinemistest ja eelistas sellele mediteerimist, siis peeti ka seda tugeva isiksuse valikuks. Saksofonist ise selgitas hiljem, et kuna ta pettumusega tõdes, et muusika maailma oluliselt paremaks teha ei suuda, asus ta ennast muutma.
Kaheksakümnendate alguses suutis prantsuse imemees Michel Petrucciani Charles Lloydi paariks kontsertreisiks taas lavale meelitada, millele jälle järgnes naasmine erakliku rahu valda. Alles 1988. aastal, kui ta oli elu ja surma piiril vaakumise hetkel teinud ilmutusliku otsuse ennast taaspühendada jazzi teenimisele, moodustas Charles Lloyd uue kvarteti, mis on muusika ilu ja ülevust kuulutanud tänaseni. Kaaslasteks rootsi pianist Bobo Stenson ja trummar Billy Hart (bassil Anders Jormin), leidis ameeriklane oma uuenenud helinägemusele kirgliku pooldaja Manfred Eicheri näol, kelle firma ECM märgi all on tänaseks ilmunud mitu plaati muusikaga, mis liigset noodiloba vältides sisendab süüvivat rahu, sirutub peenekoelistes improvisatsioonides kaugele meelte lagendikele ning väljendab Ilu selle lihtsa sõna kõige algsemas mõttes.
“Olen õnnelik, et mind kutsuti sündmuse 30. aastapäevale,” kirjutas Charles Loyd täpselt üks kuu enne Jazzkaart oma pöördumises eesti muusikasõpradele. “Muusikud, kelle endaga kaasa toon, kuuluvad maailma parimate hulka: Bobo Stenson klaveril, Billy Hart trummidel ja Jeffrey Littleton bassil. Me musitseerime koos seepärast, et meile meeldib võimalus ülendada kuulajate meelt, pakkudes neile midagi inspireerivat ja lohutavat.”
Mitte lihtsalt rõõmu vaid Tunnet tahab Jazzkaare lavalt pakkuda see legendaarne mees: “Endiselt armastan musitseerimist üle kõige ning arvan, et pärast peaaegu kümme aastat väldanud eemalolekut ja enesetäiendamist toon ma kaasa midagi niisugust, mis peegeldab lisandunud sügavust.”
TERE TULEMAST TAGASI!
Toetab Ameerika Saatkond Eestis
It was a triumph, really. In more than one, it was a true triumph: of goodwill over ill-will, of perseverance over circumstances, of art over ideology. The event in its essence - the headlining performance of the Charles Lloyd Quartet at the “notorious” Tallinn Jazz Festival of 1967 - was uplifting and victorious, although the stories that surrounded it at the time contained a fair amount of bewilderment, frustration and public mayhem. Even a bird’s-eye view of the decades-old press dispatches can convey quite a vivid picture of what happened. Here’s an excerpt from the Down Beat article of July 13, 1967:
“‘I can’t describe it in words’, said Charles Lloyd of the fantastic eight minute and 20 second ovation he received from a transported audience /.../ ‘I played my experience from Memphis up to then‘, he said, describing the intense energy he put forth in his performance. ‘There was so much stress leading up to it that it exploded.’ Following a 50-minute set /.../ the Estonians exploded too. /.../ The applause thundered on. ‘They hid our drums so we couldn’t do an encore’, said Lloyd. Finally, an half-hour intermission was announced to restore the calm.”
(Or... “Too bad, too bad, too bad”, as must have thought the stiff-lipped Soviet gatekeepers of public morals who hid the band’s drums and stopped the stormy jazz celebration. Prematurely. And unsuccessfully in the end!! Anyway, the stormy story made front-page news in the New York Times. Time magazine covered it as well, and Atlantic Records put out the timely live album (now a sought-after collectors’ item) with the performance of the Lloyd Quartet that featured the young Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette, and Ron McClure.
Charles Lloyd’s music has always found strength from mixture. Lloyd was born in Memphis, Tennessee, On March 15, 1936. His earliest gigs were with Johnny Ace, Howling Wolf and B.B. King. Years later, he majored in Bartók at the University of Southern California. Then he became an active co-player on the West Coast Jazz scene (alongside Mingus, Ornette, Cherry, Dolphy, and Chico Hamilton). After performing with Hamilton’s and Cannonball Adderley’s bands for a few years, Lloyd formed his own band in 1966. Next year Lloyd and his group were recorded live at Monterey Jazz Festival. The resultant album, “Forest Flower”, became one of the first jazz records to sell a million copies. Charles Lloyd became a star. He toured internationally, he played on the same bills with the likes of Hendrix, Santana, Joplin, Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. Then... then, rather unexpectedly for pundits and punters alike, he retired. Settled in Malibu. Moved to Big Sur. Took up transcendental meditation. Took long walks in the woods. Very rarely played his sax and flutes in public.
In the late 60s, Charles Lloyd was the vanguard of jazzmen who managed to effectively make connections with the then-budding counter-culture and its concurrent music, which in its turn has had a considerable affect on the further developments of modern jazz. Lloyd brought together impressionist harmonies, shades of avant-garde experimentalism, various ethnic elements. However, nobody called it “world music” back then. (A quarter of a century later, Lloyd described his fusion as “a tribal dance”.)
Charles Lloyd returned to the stage in the early 80s, at the insistence of pianist Michel Petrucciani. The return was short-lived. Following two well-received European tours and two live albums, he retired again until the end of the decade. The recent work of Charles Lloyd, a mature musician in his fifties, is to be found on five introspective records released by ECM. The label’s founder-producer Manfred Eicher has characterised Lloyd’s present-day soundworld as “the refined essence of what music should be. All the meat is gone, only the bones remain.” A metaphor that is not just powerful but also pertinent. One which, come to think of it, rings in close harmony with Lloyd’s own words, “My message is an urgent one, it’s a call to all the sisters and brothers to come home.”
30 after his first historic visit to Tallinn, Charles Lloyd returns to these shores for a second time. In the company of Billy Hart (drums), Bobo Stenson (piano) and Jeffrey Littleton (on bass)
... It has really been a long, long wait...
WELCOME BACK, MR. LLOYD!
Supported by American Embassy in Estonia