Forest Flower

Above is a vinyl copy of the 1967 live album Forest Flower by Charles Lloyd. Despite its being “one of the first jazz albums to sell over a million copies”, I had never heard of it, nor of Lloyd, until very recently.

In September I bought a cheap LP copy of Roland Kirk’s album The Inflated Tear. It was part of a mid-’70s German re-issue series called That’s Jazz, where the records all had die-cut gatefold sleeves with a silver laminated finish. My enjoyment of this record was fresh in my mind, when, the very next day, during a look around Heart of the Valleys Records in Blackwood, I picked up another LP from the same series: Dream Weaver by the Charles Lloyd Quartet. While Lloyd’s name didn’t ring any bells, I’d heard of the Quartet’s drummer (Jack De Johnette) and already owned some albums by the pianist, none other than Keith Jarrett. The asking-price was more than I’d paid for The Inflated Tear, but I took a chance on it anyway. I’m glad I did, as I liked Dream Weaver even better.

In its sleevenotes there was mention of Forest Flower and of that later record’s great success. Listening to some snippets courtesy of YouTube, I felt that it too would be my kind of record. It’s just as well I didn’t try to seek it out on-line, as, seven weeks later, I found a ’60s copy of Forest Flower in the wild, in excellent condition. This was at ‘The Vinyl Spinner’ market stall in Monmouth (whose proprietor goes by the name Andy Rainbow). The price was a little higher again than I’d paid for Dream Weaver (though no more than the going rate, as per Discogs). Considering it’s a 57-year-old live recording of an outdoor festival show, the recording quality is excellent. From my first few listens, I’ve been especially enamoured of the closing few minutes of “Forest Flower - Sunset”.