Legendary Jazz Saxophonist/Composer CHARLES LLOYD Celebrating his 70th Birthday in March with a New Release & Tour Since leaving Memphis for Los Angeles in 1956, Charles Lloyd's journey has been one of unique musical vision and intensely felt passion, conjuring up sounds of elegant beauty and soulful spirit. For over four decades, Lloyd has fronted some of the most profound and far-reaching ensembles of his time. Embraced by the psychedelic listeners of the '60s, Lloyd was one of the first million-selling jazz artists incorporating bop, world music and avant-garde elements into his sound. Since 1989, his performances and recordings have garnered him great acclaim as one of music's true living masters. Four days before celebrating his 70th birthday on March 15, 2008, Lloyd will release Rabo de Nube, his 12th recording for ECM and the first from his astounding new quartet. In the spring of 2007, Lloyd formed the new group for his European tour, an exciting formation with pianist Jason Moran, bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland. The tour started in Porto, Portugal on April 18 and ended in Dublin on May 11. The concert in Basel was recorded for the new CD and was dubbed by the Swiss press, "the concert of the century." As the newest member of Lloyd's ensemble, stellar young pianist Moran brings fresh ears and a fully developed sense of the possibilities improvisation offers to the group. With a string of highly acclaimed records of his own, Moran's ability to employ genre-bending stylistic freedom with a roots-based intellect and technique fits well with Lloyd's expansive vision and their band mates' youthful energy. Lloyd has long surrounded himself with immensely talented and idiosyncratic pianists such as Joe Zawinul, Keith Jarrett, Michel Petrucciani, Bobo Stenson, Brad Mehldau and Geri Allen. Jason Moran's addition to this esteemed lineage finds the young pianist expanding his modern and progressive style while adding an exhilarating new dynamic to the ensemble. For Charles Lloyd, 2008 finds the indefatigueable master musician playing at peak form as he leaps into his seventh decade with one of his most incisively exciting bands for a series of concert dates in support of this tour de force recording, Rabo de Nube. Charles Lloyd Quartet Charles Lloyd tenor saxophone, alto flute, tarogato Jason Moran piano Reuben Rogers double-bass Eric Harland drums, percussion March 27 Santa Fe, NM - Lensic Theater March 28 San Francisco, CA- Herbst Theater March 29 La Jolla, CA - The Athenaeum [please note special 7 & 9pm sets for the La Jolla show] March 30 Hollywood, CA - Catalina Bar & Grill [rare club appearance in L.A.] March 31 Seattle, WA - Triple Door June 1 Santa Barbara, CA - Lobero Theater More dates tba... "Charles Lloyd's approach to performance is quite different. The more Lloyd goes inside himself the more he draws his audience in. With Jason Moran on piano, Eric Harland on drums and Reuben Rogers on bass, Lloyd once again has a group able to follow his excursions into the music and into the mystic. Lloyd is one of the greats, rather like Joan Miro in modern art, he has no peer save himself. Music of total transport and delight." Duncan Heining, Jazzwise July 2007 "Luminous in its overtones, naked in its exposed humanity. Lloyd's series of breakthroughs to catharsis are like a spirit soaring into the blinding light of freedom. Charles Lloyd's musicality, generosity, and intuitive gifts as a communicator have enabled him to fill a special role in jazz; to make extremities of creative liberation accessible. And he is still at it. He plays with more strength and passion today than he did when he was 26." Tom Conrad, Stereophile, August 2006 "He (Charles Lloyd) may be approaching seventy, but in many ways he's playing the most vital music of his career...If anything his playing has intensified. " (Portland Jazz Festival 2007) John Kelman, All About Jazz, February 26, 2007