At the Jazz At Porquerolles Festival on the French Riviera in 2011, Charles Lloyd and his remarkable quartet of the period turned their attention to one of Brian Wilson’s songs. Wilson first recorded the piece as a single in 1966 and later used it in the Beach Boys album Pet Sounds.
Lloyd toured with the Beach Boys in the 1970s and heard the song as a beautiful melody harboring harmonic possibilities. For more than three minutes at the opening of the Porquelles version, he is absorbed in pianist Jason Moran’s introduction. Then he joins Moran, bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland to create a series of abstractions. Following a Moran solo, Lloyd closes with one of his celebrated studies in peacefulness before Rogers bows his way toward a conclusion as the video fades.
Have a restful weekend.