Charles Lloyd and Friends 80th Year Celebration at Healdsburg Jazz Festival at Jackson Theater

All jazz fans have their origin story, where they explain how they got into this music that we cherish. For people of a certain age we dont have to get too specific chances are the gateway was Charles Lloyd.

He has to be considered a legend strictly on the basis of how many people he brought into the fold tens of thousands. This was during rocks psychedelic era, when the San Francisco sound was dominating the zeitgeist. And here was Charles, only recently a bandleader, with a quartet that was performing the Fillmore, was getting played on rock radio, and with whom rockers wanted to sit in....

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All jazz fans have their origin story, where they explain how they got into this music that we cherish. For people of a certain age we dont have to get too specific chances are the gateway was Charles Lloyd.

He has to be considered a legend strictly on the basis of how many people he brought into the fold tens of thousands. This was during rocks psychedelic era, when the San Francisco sound was dominating the zeitgeist. And here was Charles, only recently a bandleader, with a quartet that was performing the Fillmore, was getting played on rock radio, and with whom rockers wanted to sit in.

At the Jackson Theater Charles will be playing with some familiar faces, plus some new ones. Start with Zakir Hussein, who with Charles and drummer Eric Harland, constitute the band Sangam. This time around, Sangam is likely to get a fourth river: Bill Frisell. Guitar hero Frisell is a special guest slated to play in different formats throughout this evening.

Also on the bill are two rising stars of jazz Gerald Clayton (left), a pianist of high polish and class, and Harish Raghavan, a bassist who has been turning heads in the jazz worlds capital, New York City. Charles will call the shots on this night, but we can expect duo, trio, and quartet configurations.

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