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Caught in the Act

Review of In-Person Performance by Don Buday
Down Beat, Aug 26, 1965, p. 35-36

Charles Lloyd, Madison Club, Baltimore, Md.

Personnel: Lloyd, tenor saxophone, flute; Joe Zawinul, piano; Sam Jones, bars; Louis Hayes, drums.

Whether Lloyd is scaring any other tenor men I don't know, but judging from this hearing, he should be. No sudden luminary, he has apprenticed with several name groups (including his current tenure with the Cannonball Adderley Sextet) and now seems on the verge of really breaking out. His influences behind him, the voice is clearly his own.

More lyrical than most tenorists, Lloyd can drive with power and still coax out all the nuances. Equally deft on flute, he does not overuse the horn, as do so many others, but employs it merely to add scope. Tenor, he admits, is his horn. One of the new image-makers, his scholarly appearance and general stage presence command an attentive audience.

This group, the Adderley outfit minus the Adderleys, was polished and well knit. The date was dedicated to drummer Hayes, who was making his last appearance before joining the Oscar Peterson Trio.

All but two of the tunes were Lloyd's. Opening with Sweet Georgia Bright, a loose, skipping blues, Lloyd stated his and built to several fast choruses. East theme, with tight punctuation by the others, of the Sun was in the same raucous mood, giving everyone a chance to stretch out. There were some especially good cross rhythms from Hayes. Always kicking, it is difficult for anyone to loaf in front of him. And Lloyd didn't. His solo was animated, flowing, and built with conIrolled energy.

The lullabylike Love Song to a Child was a long, fast flute line with tasty interweaving from Zawinul's piano, but it was a little too frantic to connect. With the exception of the piano, the ensemble sound was too cluttered and discordant.

Zawinul was a surprise. Garlandesque, he is cerebral but can be down-home when it is fitting. His tour de force, There Is No Greater Love, was a study in balance and clarity.

Voice in the Night, an eerie mood piece, was easily the afternoon's highlight. It began with faint rumblings from deep within Lloyd's tenor. Together with Zaiwinul's plucking of piano strings, the framework was as intriguing as the tune's title. Progressing to a Minguslike clatter, Lloyd's impressionistic phrases remained controlled, falling after the crescendo to a palling hush. Night could easily be gimmicked, but it was executed with taste and imagination. Lloyd would do well to write more compositions like this.

The jaunty Island Blues, the ballad How Can I Tell You?, I Told Every Little Star, and two untitled numbers rounded out the program. The pianoless Star was prefaced by a 16-bar tenor introduction, the rhythm section following in. A loose, cooking treatment, it is in a format such as this that Lloyd's exuberant tenor has the most freedom. Without being repetitive, he is able to probe with both range and gusto.

It seems only a matter of time before Lloyd sets out on his own. Enthusiastic responses such as those received at this concert may soon produce such a move. A strong writer and performer, he bears watching.