Interviewing Charles Lloyd

[KolumBUZZ]

I am going to be interviewing Charles Lloyd for my newspaper gig next week. I have done a lot of reading up on him, and listening to his recent records, but I wonder...

- does anyone have any suggestions for interesting interview questions? I would very much like not to be redundant in the questions that I ask him (relative to all the other interviews).

Caveat: if it seems like I am being needy and dependent on others ideas, so be it. I write for the sake of producing the best piece I can, not an egoistic thing of proving how original or independent I can be. I also have plenty of interesting questions lined up that I devised on my own- I am just seeking to augment that by consulting my writing peers.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks- G

[relyles]

If it helps you to reduce redundancy or even give you ideas of topics to discuss in greater detail, there was a lenghty interview of Lloyd in the recent issue of Jazz Improv magazine with Joe Henderson or Dave Liebman on the cover that you might want to read.

[PFunkJazz]

God Give Me Strength

is the title of a track on a recent Lloyd album.

[solarjazzband]

A question I'm very interested in at the moment, would be for Charles Lloyd: "How did you get in the scene?"

For me, I would really love to hear some details how a pretty well-known jazzmusician, have reached the point to play with everyone you want, and also being asked by musicians.

Please, tell the answer of him if you ask it...

[3pointdeli]

i've never read an interview with him, so i don't know what would be considered a redundant question.

i'd like to hear him reflect on opening for pop/rock/psychedelic groups in the '60s. specifically, i'd like to hear about how the pop audience responded to his music, how opening for pop groups and their audience influenced his music (if at all), and how he thinks jazz groups would go over if they were on a bill with pop or rock bands these days.

[bombastic]

Ask him about Trane's influence on him. You can really hear it on his recent discs.

[Hardbop]

Wow. I envy you. Charles Lloyd is a real interesting musician.

From what I understand he grew up in Memphis during a very fertile period for jazz musicians. He was (and is) a peer of George Coleman, Harold Mabern, Jamil Nassier, Frank Strozier, and Booker Little who all grew up in Memphis at about the same time and all, more or less, were on the scene at the same time.

Then Lloyd was discovered or first came to people's attention in I think drummer Chico Hamilton's band. Lloyd then went out on his own and was one of those jazz musicians who really broke through. He had a quartet in the mid-to-late sixties that, as was mentioned above, opened for rock acts and played at legendary venues like the Fillmore East and Fillmore West that are not associated with jazz musicians. From what I understand he was very big at this time, breaking out of the normal jazz ghetto. He had a hit of sorts with "Forest Flower" and did quite well financially. It was in Lloyd's band that Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette I believe and bassist Ron McClure played.

Reportedly he bought a lot of land in Northern California around Big Sur I think and then at one point "dropped out" and lived off his earnings/investments for years.

Then, in the early-to-mid 1990s he made a comeback. After being off the scene for years he started gigging again and has hooked up with the ECM label and been recording with them for seven or eight years or so. I remember when he made his first appearance in years at a JVC Jazz Fest concert at Carnegie Hall. People were yelling in support when he came out and someone yelled out "Forest Flower." Charles said "You Asked For It and you got it" and he proceeded to burn down the house with some bravura playing on that tune.