The Legendary Charles Lloyd Brings a New Delta Trio to Santa Barbara’s Lobero

March 14 Show Marks Lloyd’s 87th Birthday and His 20th Show at the Venerable Jazz Venue

Charles Lloyd | Credit: Matt Perko

If Charles Lloyd did not abide by what he calls “the humility sutra,” he could deservedly be boastful about what he has accomplished in the jazz music world.

When DownBeat magazine’s 2024 Critics Poll came out, Lloyd topped the list in these categories: Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Tenor Saxophonist of the Year, and Hall of Fame. That’s like winning the Triple Crown and MVP in major league baseball. Remarkably, it all happened to Lloyd half a century after he first broke on the scene (he was DownBeat’s Artist of the Year in 1967).

“My wiring is different,” Lloyd said. “You know how a guy can score a touchdown and he spikes the ball and all that. For me, the creator sets me up where I can’t have the beauty of all those accolades. What I can do is continue to sing my song.”

It was the morning after his concert at last month’s Palm Springs International Jazz Festival. His wife, Dorothy Darr, told Charles that he and his fellow musicians — Bill Frisell, Gerald Clayton, and Reuben Rogers — had received three standing ovations.

“I don’t notice things like that,” Lloyd said. “I’m drunk with the music. Because the humility sutra is set in so strongly, I’m always with a beginner’s mind. Although I’m at a time in life now I have experience, it’s still like I’m starting out. That’s a wonderful combination — experience and a beginner’s mind — because they merge in a kind of powerful way.”

On Friday, March 14, the eve of his 87th birthday, Lloyd will start afresh at the Lobero Theatre with the debut performance of the Charles Lloyd Delta Trio, featuring Jason Moran and Marvin Sewell. It will be the leader’s 20th appearance at the Lobero since he made his home in Montecito.

Moran, a brilliant pianist, performed at Lloyd’s memorable 85th birthday concert here two years ago. The quartet, also including bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Brian Blade, recorded the award-winning Blue Note album The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow.

Sewell is a guitarist steeped in the blues. “I’ve never brought the Delta in so strongly,” said Lloyd, who hails from Memphis. “We’re all Southerners. Jason from down in Texas. Marvin has the Mississippi roots. What I’m bringing is something different. It’s an exploration of the Delta, with the spiritual life….

“Marvin playing the Delta stuff on the guitar, seat belts or something needed. I don’t think they heard it raw like this. I bring him in for special occasions because he’s like a secret weapon. I’ve always wanted to expose that interior life he has. The deep blues, the real stuff, from back in early times — he’s got that. He also has this affinity with my Indian stuff. Mother India speaks to me a lot. What I’m trying to do is bring this universal living room thing together now. As I’m finishing up, I’ve got to bring all these ingredients, all this sweet and sour sauce together,” said Lloyd.

Lloyd and Sewell were both on the bill last Friday, February 28, at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral, to celebrate the life of tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, who died in December. Hussain was a member of Lloyd’s erstwhile trio, Sangam, that was born at the Lobero in 2004.

“Sangam means ‘confluence,’” Lloyd said. “A lot of things have happened for me at the Lobero. It’s a special venue. I seem to be loyal to it, and they seem to be interested in me.”

If the upcoming show is anything like his past concerts, Lloyd will not be speaking to the audience next week; instead, the universal language of music will pour out of his instrument.

He spoke last week of a “naïveté that resides with me…. I always thought the world was out of kilter and I was always going to bring it back with the beauty of music. I’m still laboring with that; I don’t think I ever grew up. On the other hand, I had such an intense feeling in my heart and simpatico with the audience last night [in Palm Springs], that the work is important. That’s what keeps me going.

Sangam featuring Zakir Hussain, Charles Lloyd, and Eric Harland at the Lobero Theatre, March 9, 2005 | Photo: David Bazemore
Charles Lloyd, October 2021 at the Lobero Theatre. | Photo: David Bazemore (file)
The Charles Lloyd Quartet in October 2021 at the Lobero Theatre. | Photo: David Bazemore (file)
Jason Moran embraces Charles Lloyd as the crowd sings happy birthday in unison in 2023. | Photo: Matt Perko (file)

“I get glimpses; I’m a glimpse man; I get glimpses all the time. That’s what I’m saying about the spiritual life. We’ve got all these developments in science and all that stuff, [but] without the benefits of spiritual life, we’re just going to implode. The lack of harmony and sensitivity and love for our fellow man, those things that Jesus and all those guys said: Everybody’s your brother; you’ve got to find a way to rise above this material stuff. I’m still drunk with ideals.

“When I’m home in my paradise, the quietude of nature is where I reside, yet the song that’s in my heart since I was a little boy remains in this lifetime. I keep singing it, and folks, they seem to respond. I’m thinking the world needs it more and more. It’s not for me to decide. It’s something that’s necessary. Hearts have to come together. The spiritual values of life are suffering. I give humanity more credit than the philistines or marketers are — that people are more sensitive.

“I’m feeling that maybe I’m getting on to something. That’s why I tell my doctors to try to keep me here longer. But I know it’s up to the creator. I don’t tell them that.”

The Charles Lloyd Delta Trio featuring Jason Moran and Marvin Sewell performs at the Lobero Theatre (33 E. Canon Perdido St.) on Friday, March 14, at 7:30 p.m. See lobero.org/events/charles-lloyd-delta-trio.