Saxophonist Charles Lloyd disappeared completely from the scene in the 1970s. He was in Big Sur, immersed in transcendental meditation. He was taken away from there by pianist Michel Petrucciani in the early 1980s. Lloyd (1938) had already had an impressive career by then, first probing the blues, then moving into jazz and avant-garde circles. He worked with Chico Hamilton and Cannonball Adderley, and started his own quartet in the mid-1960s. At the Monterrey Jazz Festival in 1966, Lloyd stood out for mixing Eastern music with modal jazz. For Lloyd, music is a mystical happening. His unique sound led to performances in rock palaces and he even played on the Beach Boys’ album Surf's Up. After his sabbatical, Lloyd grew into an elder statesman in mainstream jazz, as shown on the albums I Long To See You (2016) and Tone Poem (2021).
