In 1960, Lloyd was invited to become music director of
Chico Hamilton's group, In 1967, Lloyd and the Quartet performed at the
Tallinn Jazz Festival in
Estonia, then part of the
Soviet Union. On the same trip, they traveled to
Leningrad and performed at two venues in
Russia with the assistance of the Leningrad Jazz Club and the Moscow Jazz Club. Lloyd is given credit for anticipating
world music by incorporating music from other cultures into his compositions, as early as the late 1950s. He describes his music as having "danced on many shores". Peter Watrous stated, "Lloyd has come up with a strange and beautiful distillation of the American experience, part abandoned and wild, part immensely controlled and sophisticated." Despite recording several albums during the 1970s and occasionally appearing as a sideman, he practically disappeared from the jazz scene. Lloyd returned to the jazz world in 1981 when he toured with
Michel Petrucciani. The group produced a special edition cassette,
Night Blooming Jasmine, and two live records,
Montreux 82 and
A Night in Copenhagen, which also features
Bobby McFerrin. After the tour, Lloyd again retreated to
Big Sur. In 1986, after being hospitalized with a nearly fatal medical condition, Lloyd rededicated himself to music. When he regained his strength in 1988, he formed a new quartet with Swedish pianist
Bobo Stenson. When Lloyd returned to the
Montreux Festival in 1988, and
Eric Harland in
Santa Barbara, California in 2006
Mirror, his second recording with the New Quartet (2010), has been called a "Charles Lloyd classic."
Rabo de Nube, also on ECM, captured the quartet "live" at its inception, and was voted No. 1 recording for the 2008
JazzTimes Reader's and Critic's Poll. Lloyd collaborated with the classical Greek singer,
Maria Farantouri, for a concert at the Herodion Theater at the
Acropolis.
Ta Nea. A newspaper in Athens, stated "Music has no borders...The audience was filled with a Dionysian ecstasy. While the music had reminiscences of a Hypiros fair, at the same time it took you to the heart of New York City." Lloyd celebrated his 75th birthday in 2013 with concerts in the Temple of Dendur at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the
Kennedy Center Concert Hall in Washington, D.C. On June 25, 2014, it was announced that Lloyd was to receive the
NEA Jazz Masters Award 2015. Lloyd was the Honoree at the 2014
Monterey Jazz Festival Jazz Legends Gala, hosted by
Herbie Hancock. Lloyd was the recipient of the 2014
Alfa Jazz Fest International Music Award.
Recording for Blue Note In January 2015, it was announced that Lloyd had signed with
Blue Note Records.
Wild Man Dance, a live recording of a long-form suite commissioned by the Jazztopad Festival in Wroclaw, Poland, was released in April 2015. Lloyd was presented with an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the
Berklee College of Music in a ceremony at the
Umbria Jazz Festival in July 2015. In 2016, Lloyd was inducted into the
Memphis Music Hall of Fame. Since 2015, Lloyd has recorded ten albums for Blue Note, including 2024's
The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow, which was selected by
DownBeat critics as album of the year. Lloyd was also elected into the
DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame in 2024. In March 2021,
Blue Note released
Tone Poem, the third album by Charles Lloyd & the Marvels. In addition to three new Lloyd originals, it features compositions by
Leonard Cohen,
Ornette Coleman,
Thelonious Monk,
Bola de Nieve, and
Gábor Szabó. ==Personal life==