Charles Lloyd Quartet featuring Bill Frisell, Larry Grenadier & Kweku Sumbry
Blue Note131 West 3rd Street, New York 10012
Charles Lloyd brings his quartet to Blue Note with guitarist Bill Frisell, bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Kweku Sumbry. The billed four-piece places Lloyd alongside a longtime collaborator in Frisell: the pair first joined forces in Montreal in 2013 and have since recorded together for Blue Note on I Long to See You, Tone Poem and Chapel Trio. This is a full quartet date, with no additional guest, release celebration or special program listed.
Lloyd is a saxophonist and flutist whose work has moved through free jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, world music and psychedelia. He has played with B.B. King, Cannonball Adderley, Jimi Hendrix and Brian Wilson, and is an NEA Jazz Master. The Memphis Music Hall of Fame has called him “one of America’s most influential, experimental and spiritual musicians.” In 2024, DownBeat gave him its “quadruple crown” of Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Tenor Saxophonist of the Year and Hall of Fame. Reviewing Lloyd’s 2010 album Mirror, The Guardian heard “a moving ballad player with a uniquely gauzy and vulnerable sound,” and called him “an open-handed bandleader” and “a fine composer.”
Blue Note Jazz Club is a dedicated listening room in the heart of Manhattan's jazz district, where the music is the focus and the space is designed to let the sound fill the room. The club features a stage with a small audience area, and the atmosphere is one of quiet concentration on the music. Shows typically begin at 8:00 PM with a second set at 10:30 PM, and the audience sits on chairs close to the stage. The club has a bar, and drinks are available. The experience is primarily about listening to live jazz, with occasional gospel and soul performances, and the audience often stays to talk and enjoy the music after the sets.