Charles Lloyd Quartet

Charles Lloyd, member of the Memphis Music Hall of Fame and winner of the prestigious Chevalier des Arts et Lettre from the French Minister of Culture, is coming to the Sala Guirau at the Fernán Gómez Centro Cultural de la Villa on 16 November. In this trio format concert, he will be accompanied by Larry Grenadier on the double bass and Kewku Sumbry on the drums. It is part of the Villanos del Jazz concert series, which is also included in the programme of JAZZMADRID25. Madrid International Jazz Festival. 

Lloyd was born in Memphis, Tennessee, a city with a strong river culture and a musical heritage of blues, gospel and jazz. The artist is a quirky musician with a rich culture, as he has African, Choctaw, Mongolian and Irish ancestry. He started playing the saxophone at the age of nine. His inspiration came from the captivating musicians that he listened to on the radio in the 1940s, such as Charlie Parker, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Billy Holiday and Duke Ellinton.   

After being taught by pianist Phineas Newborn and saxophonist Irvin Reason, he went to Los Angeles in 1956 to study a degree in music at USC. He has been a musical director, participated in several bands, such as The Beach Boys in the late 1970s, and has also worked with many jazz and blues artists. However, in recent years he has turned to albums in a trio format and is coming to Spain to present Ocean (2022), the second of his three consecutive albums in this format.

In this concert in Madrid, he will be accompanied by Larry Grenadier on the double bass and Kewku Sumbry on the drums. The former has worked with Charles Lloyd since the recording of The Water is Wide in 2000. From Lloyd’s point of view, this album is “the most similar to a robust anchor, which paradoxically lifts everyone up”.