Charles Lloyd – Forest Flower (1967 Atlantic LP Vinyl)

Released in 1967 on Atlantic Records (SD 1473), Forest Flower captures Charles Lloyd live at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1966 — a luminous, free-flowing performance that became both a critical and commercial triumph. With a quartet featuring Keith Jarrett on piano, Cecil McBee on bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums, Lloyd blends post-bop sophistication with a spirit of openness and adventure that mirrors the cultural mood of the late 1960s.

The two-part suite Forest Flower – Sunrise and Sunset is the album’s centrepiece — lyrical, hypnotic, and endlessly expansive, it moves from quiet introspection to joyous release. On side B, the quartet stretches out across Sorcery, Song of Her, and East of the Sun, with Jarrett’s luminous touch and DeJohnette’s dynamic drumming providing the perfect foil for Lloyd’s airy tenor and flute.

The result is music that feels spontaneous yet serene, deeply rooted yet boundary-breaking — one of the defining live recordings of the post-bop era. Pressed in stereo and presented in a striking gatefold sleeve, the original Atlantic issue remains a landmark document of 1960s jazz at its most spiritual and exploratory.