'Forest Flower: Charles Lloyd At Monterey' was recorded live at the Monterey Jazz Festival, on September 18, 1966. Released in, 1967 it became (along with 'A Love Supreme' from '65) the Jazz soundtrack of the acid-dropping baby boomer Hippies, like myself. Always accessible and stunning, the Charles Lloyd Quartet was recorded at the very height of its powers. The title track, "Forest Flower," actually is split into two parts, "Sunrise" and "Sunset," which merge together seamlessly to form a single piece of impressive unity, with Charles Lloyd, Keith Jarrett, Cecil McBee, and Jack DeJonette playing beyond the point of empathy. There is such sheer beauty and lyricism in the music that 57 years later it still gives me the goose bumps. It is almost impossible to be unmoved by "Forest Flower—Sunset," particularly when Keith Jarrett reaches inside the piano to pound out extraordinary sounds.
The set exemplified just how versatile these musicians are and would soon become, this was an exceptionally young band. Bassist Cecil McBee was the oldest at 31 years old and pianist Keith Jarrett was the youngest at 21 years old. Band leader Charles Lloyd and drummer Jack DeJohnette were 28 and 24 years old, respectfully.
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| "Who's that behind those Foster Grants?" |
Charles Lloyd would solider on a few more years before starting an artistically underwhelming, but financially lucrative, role as a Beach Boys sideman for many years. He would make his return to the jazz world with great fanfare in the early 1980s.
Forest Flower captures the spirit of the 60s without sounding the least bit dated. It was also one of the first jazz recordings to sell a million copies.
Charles Lloyd: Tenor Sax, Flute
Keith Jarrett: Piano
Cecil McBee: Bass
Jack DeJohnette: Drums
Today's freeload is a 1994 reissue from the Rhino label, that combines 'Forest Flower: Charles Lloyd at Monterey' and 1969's 'Soundtrack' on one CD.
Charles Lloyd: Tenor Sax, Flute
Keith Jarrett: Piano
Ron McClure: Bass
Jack DeJohnette: Drums
For the free load, what are/were your favorite albums to listen to while on Psychedelics.
Back in the day (before I was in college!) I used to enjoy Beefheart's "Mirror Man" LP under the influence of "white mescaline" whatever that actually was.
ReplyDeleteIf they were a “microdot” of any color and sold as “Mescaline” it was either DOM (2,5-Dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine), DOB (4-bromo-2,5 dimethoxyamphetamine), or DOI (2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine), all of which are a relatively easily made psychedelic amphetamine.
DeleteA pill with actual Mescaline (3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine) would have been difficult to manufacture, extremely large to the point of impossible to swallow.
In the late 60s DOB was made in the Caltech chem lab (among other places). I had a few acquaintances at Caltech, who through a series of mishaps and bad connections, ended up making a batch for the Los Angeles Cosa Nostra. They made enough for around three thousand microdots, and told the “wise guy”, that was all they wanted to make. They were told in no uncertain terms “You don’t tell me, when you’re going to stop, I tell you”. So for the next few years they were sneaking into the chem lab late at night, to do their thing.
They were handsomely rewarded, but still…
You could be correct, Babs. The effects were similar to what was known as MDA in those days, or was it MDMA? Ecstasy precursor? A little speedy, great audio enhancement. You are now my guru, dear.
DeleteBeing inside and tripping seldom went together. "Outside" meant just out of the city into the countryside, forest and stream, and no soundtrack other than the sounds that were there. Tripping was a revelation of how you were part of nature, from the clouds in the sky to a dewdrop on a petal. Tripping in the city was never good, and tripping inside could be worse. The acid was strong, literally mind-blowing, and normal social behavior difficult to attempt. The few occasions I managed to get it all together (man) to listen to music, the greatest success was Terry Riley (Rainbow In Curved Air), and the worst Zappa. Classical and jazz, both auditioned, failed to be more than meaningless sound, even Mozart, which was a surprise. Maybe Bach would have worked, if I'd had any of his albums. But music was mostly irrelevant.
ReplyDeleteMy Millennial pals insisted they tried acid while on holiday. What was it like? "Everything was ... twinkly." Well, that's Millennial acid for you, I suppose.
I found too much musical intensity was opaque and counter-productive. The denseness of jazz fusion for example would rise like a brick wall and my thoughts would splatter against it. My brain wanted something it could dance to.
DeleteRight. Riley's lighter-than-air pitter-pattering had an exact visual representation when I went down the rabbit hole. I know what that music looks like.
DeleteThere were a couple of albums that worked in a similar way - Stomu Yamash'ta's "Floating Music" and Suntreader's "Zin-Zin". Both albums available on request @ a breezy 192.
DeleteMothers of Invention: Uncle Meat or We’re Only In It For The Money or Lumpy Gravy
ReplyDeleteThe Who Sell Out
Steve Kuhn [Buddha, 1971]
Kind Crimson; Starless and Bible Black
Peter Hammill: The Silent Corner and The Empty Stage
The Beatles: Magical Mystery Tour
Robert Wyatt: Rock Bottom
Henry Cow: Unrest
I love tripping in the city, being a lifelong urbanite, it's my natural habitat. Times Square with its sensory overload of neon signs, sights, sounds and smells was always good fun. Outside the city, the beach (especially Hermosa Beach in the late 60s) was always lots of fun with a radio blaring. Tripping and surfing was always so much fun, as was volley ball and never ending joints being passed around.
ReplyDeleteIndoors, was where the hi-fi system came alive, with a good tube amp, you could walk around the music. For the most part, I didn't listen to the so-called psychedelic music (The Dead's "Anthem Of The Sun" was an exception) tripping. Any Thelonious Monk album, caused me to laugh in delight. Ornette Coleman, you bet! Miles' 'ESP' and 'Miles Smiles' were always a revelation. Watching The Marx Bros. made me laugh until my stomach hurt (in a good way). Also, indoors, sex was "on the menu"...
https://youtu.be/QuWfFMIwVGI?feature=shared
ReplyDeleteI didn't like tripping around people that weren't tripping. Although I grew up in the L.A. suburbs we would always head to a park or the mountains. I had a job running a camp in the mountains. The guys at the camp next door were in to prog rock. This night I knew they were tripping and so was I. I put on the Byrd's - Untitled album and had them mesmerized through the entire double album. Me, I still like 60s & 70s psychedelia. Quicksilver thru Hawkwind.
ReplyDeleteI know later day Byrds are not considered psychedelic but that night it worked. Had similar reactions to Hot Tuna - First Pull Up, Then Pull down.
ReplyDeleteWhen you play old music to new people.
DeleteIn the very early 80s I was in Puskhar (a small desert village), India, stoned on 'bhang lassi' and another traveler had lent me his walkman + tape. Watching the sunset while listening to Keith Jarrett's Koln Concert was quite a mind-blowing experience!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.going.com/guides/bhang-lassi-india
I liked NRPS (1st LP) & Stevie Wonder (can't remember which LP now!!) ..oh ... and "Forever Changes"!! ... listening after the peak!! otherwise floating around outside ... usually countryside, but there were a couple of incidents with bulls walking across some fields!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm not the biggest Van Morrison fan, but the live album It's Too Late To Stop Now did it for me a few times.
ReplyDeleteI think these days being outside would be my preference, I can gather enough magic mushrooms from the forest for a few trips every year, which I usually do at a music festival. However in the 80’s there was a bar/club locally that was great if you were tripping, playing eclectic music, TV monitors around showing clips from weird films and sympathetic door staff.
ReplyDeleteAlbums, An Electric Storm by White Noise (but DO NOT play the last track on side 2).
for some reason Split by Groundhogs was great, despite the subject matter.
Timewind by Klaus Shultz
What a Bunch of Sweeties by Pink Fairies. These all worked well ‘back in the day’.
Also various Hawkwind, Ozrics and Man albums.
Always preferred outdoors tripping to indoor tripping. That said, In A Silent Way always a favorite, also heard We're Only In It For The Money more than enough times, listened to Switched On Bach, the electrical playing of classical music was intriguing and kinda drew you in, also and more frequently E. Power Biggs playing Bach. Once I heard Joe Byrd & The Field Hippies, The American Metaphysical Circus and wondered why. Someone thought it was good music to trip by, I disagree. Thanks Babs
ReplyDeleteEasy. The first four Firesign Theatre albums, their 'quadrology'.
ReplyDeleteTHE BEST!!
DeleteThat was the soundtrack to my last excursion many moons ago, but... You can't get there from here.
DeleteInteresting. Language made no impact at all under LSD for me. Reading, spoken word, talking ... all language functions apart from the sound it makes were irrelevant and of no interest. The allusive cross-referential wordplay of the Firesigns make sense with a spliff, but acid? What I'm getting from the comments is using acid to enhance everyday experience in a recreational way, listening to music, whatever. That was never on the agenda personally. It was never for fun or recreational activity; it was mind-blowing. Core areas of human activity - understanding or creating art on any level, communication, all fell away like a net. There were two basic modes of acceptance, eyes open or closed. The eyes open approach opened up the world, which was for me the natural world ("god", if you like), full of luminous wonder, the interconnectedness of life. The eyes closed approach was down the rabbit hole, the hunting of the snark, internal visions that sprang from no personal experience, changing all the time. Easy to get lost in there! LSD didn't need a soundtrack or activity, it was its very own thing, so saturated with itself there was no room for you and the baggage you carried.
Delete..however, I already have these LloydDiscs.
DeleteAs I recall, after about 30 minutes,my buddy's wife said turn it (Firesign) off! You're having too much fun & I don't get it.
DeleteAnother time we attempted to play music, but I couldn't even get in tune (before digital tuners, but it probably wouldn't have helped anyway). Strings felt like telephone cables. Don't know how Santana, the Dead, et al did it!
-notBob
@Farquhar - They answered a recreationally posed question (this a music blog), not a spiritual question. That's not to say your well-thought-out answer (as always) wasn't appreciated.
DeleteMyself, on an intellectual level, I loved to solve differential equations tripping. If mathematics are anything, they are truth and reality.
While tripping, I decided not to into my families business, and instead become a mathematician, and strive for a doctorate degree, which next to parenthood, was the most difficult undertaking of my life.
@Babs- I love how you love Super-math. But I'm amazed how it all made chemical sense to you. I couldn't count my toes under the circumstances.
DeleteBut...Party on!
-not Bob
No judgement implied. I'll be away from my desk for a while.
DeleteThe main reason I still do mushrooms is because ‘I’m in control’, both in the amount I consume, and also I picked them so won’t get poisoned. I’m a bit frightened of going too deep, so I stay this side of sensible these days. I’ve gone very deep in the past, it was amazing - saw “god” in nature too. I’m pretty sure I stayed eyes open.
DeleteThe bible for British Mushroom Heads in the late 70’s, link below, the whole thing as a pdf file.
Deletehttps://www.samorini.it/doc1/alt_aut/ad/cooper-guide-british-psilocybin-mushrooms.pdf
I still have a copy.
I remember a gathering at my friends house before going out someone trying to cut a microdot in half, one half was lost in the carpet. Blotters were easier to divide.
I did a magic truffle, a.k.a. Philosopher's stone for Kamasi Washington's set at Newport.
DeleteLink
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/gvCx2nTSgGn
Thanks Babs
DeleteThanks Babs your description of this album made me think I need to hear it.
DeleteEnjoy, guys!
DeletePink Floyd A saucerful of secrets
ReplyDeleteMy early consciousness expanding experiences during high school in the early 80s were in a symbiotic and synergistic relationship with the expansion of my musical horizons beyond punk rock to proto punk, psychedelic rock, garage rock, and beyond. I have great memories of listening to Blue Cheer, The Stooges, MC5, Pebbles Vol. 2, Hawkwind's Space Ritual, Jimi Hendrix, The White Album, and My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. At the same time Punk started morphing into its own psychedelic derivatives and the Meat Puppets and Husker Du's Zen Arcade also featured prominently in my excursions.
ReplyDeleteMore recently, as I mentioned on these pages, I had some revelatory experiences with the Grateful Dead 1973-74 Pacific Northwest box set that was shared here and Bennie Wallace's Free Will when I was sucked into the vortex beyond space & time by a larger than expected dose of 2CE. Friggin' amazing!
Those Europeans privileged to listen to Willis Conover presenting the Voice Of America Jazz Hour were well aware of Mr Lloyd.
ReplyDeleteI remember hitching a lift with John Marshall in 64 and raving about this record to him.
This Sunset is wonderful too
https://workupload.com/file/Gf2NC5CwmPK
dear... what a wonderful recording. thank you!
ReplyDeletehuey
Glad you like it, huey. I never cease to be amazed that it's not better well known.
DeleteJimi Hendrix
DeleteParliament/Funkadelic (like Zappa, only more groove oriented; what could be better?)
MagicalMysteryYellowPepper.
Once I made the mistake of playing 20th Century Schizoid Man (on headphones). I only lasted 15 seconds and had to laugh at my own stupidity.
Electric Blues.
Farq, I ALWAYS wanted to hear music on trips.
One more: Donovan - A Gift From A Flower To A Garden. The Bert Jansch - influenced guitar was hypnotic (plus Jack Bruce on bass!)
DeleteBabs, here's a recent interview with Charles Lloyd:
Deletehttps://www.stereophile.com/content/chat-charles-lloyd
Thanks, Psychfan.
Deletebabs, hope you like this!
ReplyDeletehttps://we.tl/t-6rgZKqbtZV
thanks again for the music...
huey
Thank huey, I like it a lot!
Delete