Lloyd Gregory - Free Fallin'
"I only give the band the basic structure of the piece, just
enough of a roadmap to get started, because I want them to each be
creative themselves. We
take the seed, water it and allow it to grow.
We nurture the music with love. Hopefully each listener feels
what went into the music and can take some of that away with them."
Lloyd Gregory, a popular
musician on the San Francisco/Bay Area and studio-player in Los
Angeles, has enough experience and professionalism to create a perfect
album from scratch.
The
best method to explain his music is to compare his music with those
artists he is influenced by. Those musicians are early soul innovators
like Curtis Mayfield, many of the guitarists in the various Motown
artist's bands, and Ike Turner. But
he is also inspired by rock'n'rollers from Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley
through Hendrix to Eddie Van Halen.
And on the other end of the spectrum acoustic players who
bridged between jazz, Latin and classical like Django Reinhardt, Bola
Sete, Andres Segovia and Manitas de Plata are his idols too.
So
you can await an instrumental album with the guitar (acoustic guitar
and electric guitar) in the center of an awesome project. The title of the starting track is
simply called The New Song. The melody
line is impressible and in the final part of the song are some jazz
structures recognizable.
Jazz
4 Jasmine has a nice Bossa Nova feeling. Lloyd's affinity to Django
Reinhardt 's music is obvious.
On
Kermudgen Lloyd's mastership finds a
first summit. This uptempo tune reveals brilliant guitar licks.
Excellent R. Glenn on flute.
The
first cover is taken from the classic song I Loves
You Porgy. Porgy & Bess the first U.S. folk opera, with
music by George Gershwin and lyrics co-written by Ira Gershwin and
Heyward is a real fountain for hundreds of musicians. Lloyd plays the
theme with much heartfelt and sensitivity.
Free
Fallin' isn't
written for parachutists but for radio listeners.
Song4Kim
is surprising with an increasing tempo and a drum solo at the end.
Steve's
House is featuring R."Itchie" Aguon and M. LeDuc on
vocals. A fresh song like a summer wind in California.
Round
Midnight is a tune, originally recorded by Thelonious Monk on
his album "Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1" on October 15th
and 24th, and November 21st of 1947. This song is nowadays a standard
and carefully replayed by Lloyd.
On
Snow Bear Lloyd concentrates on his
guitar play. From time to time, when he decorates his playing leaving
the pure melody line, one can better notice his skills.
Peanut
is the second tune on which Lloyd collaborates with the programmer Felton
Pilate. Felton was a former member of the group "Con Funk
Shun" together with Michael Cooper and also acted as musical
director with Mc Hammer. His solo album "Nothing But Love Spoken
Here" in 2002 is hard to find.
Inside
of the album you find a photo showing Lloyd standing at the shore of Lake
Merritt. The song mirrors the beauty of this place of nature in
Oakland, California. Thanks to the intervention of Dr. Merritt, then
mayor of Oakland, the area was declared a National wildlife refuge in
1869, the first in North America.
The
instrumental ballade Maya with a mellow structure ends this album
which is dedicated as a companion for "luxurious
relaxation".
