Charles Lloyd Documentary Illuminates Elusive Artist

Charles Lloyd was one of those musical forces that informed the 60s, with all their troubled freedoms. His trajectory to stardom was steep, starting when he would sit in as a teenager with Memphis soul greats like Bobby Bland and Johnny Ace in the 1950s. Just 10 years later he had passed through bands with Chico Hamilton and Cannonball Adderly to found his own quartet, culminating in Forest Flower: Live at Monterey (1966). When that jazz album reached the top of the rock charts, Lloyd was 27.

Not long after, he disbanded the  group, and his career, retreating to the foggy solitude of Big Sur. Though he never completely disappeared – recording and touring with fellow TM followers the Beach Boys, for instance – he never really came back, returning to his coastal refuge years .

Arrows Into Infinity, the documentary film co-directed and co-produced by his wife Dorothy Darr, with  Jeffery Morse, explores these years and the journey they represent, a journey by Lloyd to find the spiritual power of music. This sonic odyssey  has brought Lloyd in contact with an unusual assortment of artists all over the world, from his visits to Easter Europe and the Soviet Union in 1967 to his current status as a jazz master and mentor to yet another new generation.

Darr and Morse have enlisted a score of musicians to give their perspectives on Lloyd’s journey, from jazz artists like Jack DeJohnette, Jason Moran, Ornette Coleman and  Geri Allen, to more rock-oriented musicians Jim Keltner, John Densmore, Robbie Robertson and Don Was. Their illuminations of Lloyd are woven with his own poignant words and music to create a tapestry of an artist whose life’s purpose is to shoot sonic arrows into infinity, aiming for enlightenment.

Filmmakers Darr, Morse and musicians Jason Moran and Lloyd himself will be at the Raven for the 11 a.m. screening on Saturday. “Charles represents a type of musician, an era of musician, that is almost extinct,” said Moran. “These cats pass away, and when they go…  everything that they put into their music, goes with them.

“Unless you talk to them, unless you exchange words or ideas.  Or you get lucky enough [to] actually play with them, and then you converse on the bandstand. That’s an extremely important part of how we grow.”

The morning screening is just $10, and tickets will be available at the door. It will be followed later Saturday by a concert at the Raven with the Charles Lloyd-Jason Moran Duo, which still has general admission tickets available. More information on Healdsburgjazz.com.