Jon Lloyd

British alto and soprano saxophonist Jon Lloyd emerged during the 1990s as a significant figure among free improvisers, skillfully merging intense, high-velocity blowing with finely shaded nuance while also proving himself a resourceful composer in the free-bop idiom whose works maintained clear formal outlines yet allowed ample space for spontaneous invention. His introduction to free jazz came in the 1980s through the LFG Trio, after which he established the nonet Anacrusis alongside Evan Parker and the Extempore Saxophone Quartet with John Butcher, in addition to collaborating with vocalist Vanessa Mackness. He assembled a touring quartet drawn from the personnel of the trio Atlas—pianist John Law, bassist Paul Rogers, and drummer Mark Sanders—which supported his first recording for Leo, the album Syzygy captured in 1990. With funding from Britain’s Arts Council, Lloyd traveled across England in 1991 in the company of violinist Phil Wachsmann; two years later the same council underwrote another quartet tour that yielded the live Leo release Head, documented in London and Sheffield. A 1995 tour paired him with pianist Pat Thomas, yet Law rejoined for the 1996 session By Confusion, on which Tim Wells assumed the bass chair previously held by Rogers. In search of fresh sonic possibilities, Lloyd subsequently organized a sextet that incorporated trombone, violin, and cello, enabling explorations of texture and tighter compositional frameworks; the group made its recorded debut with the 1997 Future Music album Praxis. Cellist Stan Adler remained for a subsequent quartet completed by bassist Marcio Mattos and drummer Paul Clarvis, which documented Four and Five for hatHut in 1999. Beginning in 2000, Lloyd turned to writing for string quartet and joined John Law’s Abacus quartet. To fuse the improvisational drive of his earlier quartet with the structural refinement developed in the sextet, he next assembled a quintet comprising Adler, Law, Clarvis, and trombonist Chris Webster that undertook a tour in early 2002.