Charles Lloyd & The Marvels + Lucinda Williams – Vanished Gardens
Whoever’s idea it was to match up legendary jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd with a couple of unique toned guitarists and the queen of Americana is crazy – a crazy genius that is. I was a big fan of Charles & the Marvels last outing I Long To See You. This is a worthy follow up.
The Marvels are Bill Frisell on guitar, Greg Leisz on pedal steel guitar and dobro, Reuben Rogers on bass, and Eric Harland on drums. Several songs have Lucinda Williams on vocals. Vanished Gardens was produced by Lloyd, Dorothy Darr, and Don Was.
I love the combination of Frisell’s folkie jazz guitar, Leisz country twang, Williams’ smokey drawl and of course Lloyd’s charming sax. This would not work on paper, but it works on wax.
I am a jazz and country music fan and typically when you merge those you get western swing. This is something altogether different. It is Americana Jazz, mellow, yet rich. Gorgeous tones ooze out of all the players. It is beyond belief that at 80 years old, Lloyd still sounds on the top of his game.
Axl's Catch Groove 
Hadn’t heard about this, sounds cool.
I have been enjoying this for several months, just wasn’t motivated to write a post.
Talk about right up my alley. Thanks for the lead. When I read the title. you caught my thoughts on your opening sentence. This goes to the top of the pile.
I got a lot of traffic on this post. I tweet, Facebook and instagram my posts. None other than Lucinda Williams herself liked the tweet and then retweeted it. Got nearly 160 hits that day.
I was just talking to J about the cool uses of sax in music not just jazz/blues/rock but in country also (Haggard). And the next day I catch your take. Cool on Lucinda getting in touch. I’ve been listening to her for a long time.
I saw this band, without Lucinda, early this year. What a show. They are truly great.
Neil S.
They came through my town too, but I had a conflict and missed it.
Real nice! Thanks for sharing!