The incombustible Charles Lloyd (Memphis, 1938) tells how music makes him “fly through the air.” Metaphorically, of course, but not only that, since he is able to reach from the stage to our “souls”, as he says, through the wind that he expels from inside his chest and that he shapes into notes through his saxophone. . With that cold and metallic companion, he has traveled the world and incorporated the styles that he has found in his music, to turn it into colorful and warm caresses to the particles that form the air through which he flies to the rhythm of jazz. The night of November 28 in Son Amar, within the Jazz Voyeur Festival, Lloyd will once again take the stage to navigate among the attendees and give the oxygen that everyone breathes a musical breath.
You have played in Mallorca before, what do you remember about the island?
—I had a wonderful concert there and also extraordinary walks because I stayed near the sea. I remember it was very inspiring and I remember those feelings above all. Mallorca is a wonderful place and I hope they can keep it that way.
Any clue of what you will be playing at Son Amar with your quartet?
“You’ll find out that night!” We are professional and serious musicians who walk the line. That is why we play from inspiration and consolation.
You said that during the confinement it was not so bad, what was it due to?
“Well, sometimes my path is somewhat different.” I’ve had a very active life since I was a kid, and being able to take a break was good. I am in good health and have people who take care of me, for which I was grateful in a way for that break, although I am now ready to return to the ring.
What is it like to play in front of the public again?
—I didn’t know what it would be like, but being able to re-exploit that opportunity to tell the truth from the stage is wonderful. I love playing and, above all, doing it live because you have communion with the public. My goal is to reach people’s souls and be able to touch them. That’s where my efforts go because I come from a very rich tradition that goes in this direction.
Speaking of that tradition, how did growing up in a city as musical as Memphis influence you?
“A lot, of course.” I grew up among the masters of the blues and the extremely intelligent young jazz musicians inspired by them. I moved in that environment and I could see how the blues could shake buildings and reach people’s souls. My best friend at the time was the great Booker Little, and his very special compositions influenced me greatly. It was a very strange mix because being the South there was a lot of racism, but we had our own world. I come from that tradition, from those who played before me, and I am still that young man who wants to touch the stars.
What was it that attracted you to the saxophone?
“It was the sax that rang out at me.” As a child I went to a parade and there was a band playing and when I saw the sax I said: that’s what I’m going to play. When you are a child you don’t know much, but you do feel, and I felt that the sax spoke to me from another world.
And what about music? What makes it worth dedicating your entire life to?
“Music is a blessing.” It keeps me young and makes dreams come true. I have dreams in which I fly through the air, and music is capable of making that happen. And it does it because it happens in another dimension, it elevates us, and I think it is a gift from the creator. In addition, music is capable of uniting all human beings, I have seen it all my life, which fortunately has not been a normal life, which can be boring. Mine has been a spiritual life, and I have the benefit of the experience, because I have been here a long time, and I can say that the spiritual translates into what I play.
What can be achieved through music?
“What I’m trying to do is change the world.” I am a dreamer, not a politician or anything like that, but all the suffering bothers me and I don’t know why but I have the opportunity to make music, and it is our opportunity to tell our story and give our truth.
After such a long career, is there anything you have learned that you would like to share with the younger musicians starting their careers?
“Yes, the truth is that I do.” Let them play music only if they love it and be sincere in what they do. Only then can they become blessed and, furthermore, they should listen carefully to those who were before them playing and made their contribution, but the main thing, the most important of all, is that we play the music we love. Not for business or money, but for feeling, and it should always be this way.
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