Charles Lloyd Quartet
London, Cheltenham
American saxophonist and flautist Charles Lloyd may still be most famous for his late-60s fusion group with Keith Jarrett, but, after falling out of music for a decade or more, he returned as an equally broadminded, but more soulful, pensive and subtly expressive performer. Lloyd has explored a meditative contemporary jazz with stars including pianist Brad Mehldau and the former Ornette Coleman drummer Billy Higgins, as well as world-music with Indian tabla master Zakir Hussain. If these gigs are likely to be as uncliched as any of Lloyd's recent work, they should incline toward a jazzier identity, with the remarkable drummer Eric Harland and virtuosic pianist Jason Moran in the band.
· Barbican Hall, EC2, Sat 5; Town Hall, Cheltenham, Sun 6
Bob Brookmeyer
Cheltenham
The American critic Whitney Balliett once described the sound of the trombone being played fast as resembling that of a fat man trying to run uphill. Bob Brookmeyer, the Kansas-born trombonist who is Artist in Residence at this year's Cheltenham International Jazz Festival, has never sounded like that. Originally a pianist, he opted first for the slide and then for the more agile valve trombone, and by the early 1950s was specialising in it for giants including Woody Herman, Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan and clarinetist Jimmy Giuffre. Brookmeyer later became a renowned composer, conductor, soloist and teacher, and that rich experience informs his varied roles here. Saturday's performance features a coolly swinging quartet including bass virtuoso Drew Gress, and Sunday's a one-off meeting with the UK trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, in a cross-genre contemporary ensemble led by young British-resident pianist Hans Koller.
· Everyman Theatre, Sat 5 & Sun 6
