A new documentary presented by the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin offers “rare and intimate insights” into the artistry of jazz musician Charles Lloyd.
Lloyd’s wife, painter and video artist Dorothy Darr, produced the film about her husband, documenting the time spent in isolation at the couple’s home in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Supported by Germany’s Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the documentary is called Love Longing Loss: At Home with Charles Lloyd During a Year of the Plague.
The film is streaming exclusively at boulezsaal.de.
Filmed over the course of several months using iPhone and Lumix cameras as well as a portable Zoom recorder, the documentary features the saxophonist and flautist’s reflections on music, solitude, resistance, social injustice and his own ancestry, as well as a number of solo performances.
Born in Memphis, Tenn., in 1938, Lloyd moved to Los Angeles at the age of 18. There, he earned a degree in music at the University of Southern California and played in jazz clubs with Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, Eric Dolphy, Bobby Hutcherson and other leading West Coast jazz artists. In 1960, Lloyd became the music director of Chico Hamilton’s group. Following a brief engagement with the Cannonball Adderley Sextet, Lloyd founded his own quartet in 1965 with Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette and Cecil McBee, releasing numerous acclaimed albums and touring the world.
Lloyd has recorded nearly 50 albums as a leader throughout a career of 62 years and counting. His latest album Tone Poem, recorded with The Marvels — his quintet featuring guitarist Bill Frisell, bassist Reuben Rogers, drummer Eric Harland and pedal steel guitarist Greg Leisz — was released on March 12, 2021.