To Infinity and beyond with jazz legend Charles Lloyd

76 year old saxophonist Charles Lloyd is one of the most influential jazz musicians of the modern era breaking boundaries and bending genre perceptions with music built from his Memphis beginnings influenced by including blues, gospel and jazz.

Published 4th Aug 2014

76 year old saxophonist Charles Lloyd is one of the most influential jazz musicians of the modern era breaking boundaries and bending genre perceptions with music built from his Memphis beginnings influenced by including blues, gospel and jazz. 

'Arrows Into Infinity' is a journey in sound through the unusual life and career of this jazz legend in his own voice, and those who worked with him over the last five decades. This is a collaborative work between Lloyd's wife Dorothy Darr filmmaker Jeffery Morse. Originally released in 2012 it has now been issued on DVD by the ECM record label.

It follows the story of Charles Lloyd’s life using archive footage and lots of music and includes interviews with Lloyd’s current quartet of Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers and Eric Harland plus percussionist Zakir Hussain with contributions from some of the greatest names in jazz. Herbie Hancock, Ornette Coleman, Jack DeJohnette, Blue Note president Don Was, Geri Allen, Larry Grenadier, Stanley Crouch and ECM's Manfred Eicher. The film looks explores Lloyd's complete withdrawal from touring and recording in the early 1970s despite being at the peak of his career and his time at artistic retreat Big Sur in California, his fight against critical ill health and return to music the 1980s to this day.

“Arrows gives a rare insight into the life of one of contemporary music’s giants. The film finds a satisfying balance between documentary and exquisite live performance. There were times when I felt like clapping.” - Mike Figgis, film director