Legendary saxophonist and composer Charles Lloyd celebrated his 80th birthday on March 15 2018 at his hometown venue, Santa Barbara’s Lobero Theatre, alongside an unprecedented grouping of musical friends including guitarist Julian Lage, pianist Gerald Clayton, bassist Reuben Rogers, and drummer Eric Harland, with special guests organist Booker T. Jones and bassist and Blue Note President Don Was joining the ensemble midway. Lloyd has played the 150-year-old adobe theater in downtown Santa Barbara more often than any other venue, and more often than any other performer.
Lloyd’s triumphant new album 8: Kindred Spirits (Live from The Lobero), which will be released February 14 on Blue Note Records, documents both the sights and sounds of that extraordinary concert, arriving in a limited-edition deluxe boxset that includes 3-LPs, 2-CDs, and a DVD of the full performance, along with a 96-page hardcover book and 2 photo prints that commemorate the first 8 decades of Lloyd’s remarkable journey. The album will also be released in standard LP.