Given that
Charles Lloyd has been recording for
Manfred Eicher's ECM label since 1989, it seems odd that Rabo de Nube (translation: Tail of a Cloud) is his first live quartet outing for the imprint, though he's done so in other combinations. Yet, given that this recording was issued a mere four days before the great saxophonist's 70th birthday, it is also a full circle of sorts for the Lloyd Quartet. Most of
Lloyd's early quartet albums were recorded live for Atlantic between 1966 and 1968, seven in total, with the live band recording its first date over 40 years ago and featuring a young
Keith Jarrett as its pianist. This association became a blueprint of sorts for a lineage of his subsequent pianists who have all gone on to their own measures of excellence as leaders:
Michel Petrucciani,
Bobo Stenson,
Brad Mehldau, and
Geri Allen.
Jason Moran, the pianist here, is a leader in his own right, having also played with
Wayne Shorter and
Lee Konitz, to name just two; more importantly, his teachers offer a clue as to how his highly individual voice was developed --
Andrew Hill,
Jaki Byard, and
Muhal Richard Abrams.
Moran joins
Lloyd and longtime -- and immensely gifted -- drummer
Eric Harland (who went to high school with
Moran in Houston) and new bassist
Ruben Rogers, who has previously been a member of groups led by the late
Jackie McLean,
Roy Hargrove, and
Mulgrew Miller.
Recorded in Basel during the band's European tour in 2007, the band takes a very different approach to some familiar tunes. For starters, it has to do with style:
Moran is a more physical player than many of the pianists
Lloyd has employed in the past; his playing is more chord-oriented and percussive, less elegant and soulful than
Allen's perhaps, less ornate than
Petrucciani's, and certainly less contemplative than
Stenson's. The material choices are wide-ranging. There's the hard-blowing "Prometheus," on which
Lloyd and
Moran walk the margins of free jazz as
Harland pushes them toward it and
Rogers holds down a flowing rhythmic tempo, elaborating on the choruses juxtaposing rhythm and harmonic investigation. Another blower on the set is "Sweet Georgia Bright," which
Lloyd has played live in the past, but was first recorded when he was a member of
Cannonball Adderley's group in 1964 with pianist
Joe Zawinul.
Moran's funky, hard-driving solo and the interplay of the rhythm section are remarkable.
Lloyd's immense ability to soar with a nugget like this, influsing it with new fire is an asterisk that highlights his place as one of the true (if largely unsung) masters of the horn.
Lloyd's alto flute gets a beautiful workout on "Booker's Garden," written for classmate
Booker Little. His lyricism is only eclipsed by his deep soul groove -- which
Moran takes to the bank in his own solo that lends the tune a different dynamic, one much bolder and centered in the middle of the keyboard. The playing by
Rogers on the track is beautiful, using a Caribbean rhythmic pulse that allows
Harland to dance around the soloists and make the backbeat slippery and fluid.
The closing title track was offered in a live quintet version on Lift Every Voice, the pickup band album recorded four days after 9/11. This one is quieter, sweeter, and more lyric and gentle, and a perfect way to end a show -- it is also the only non-original on the set. Fans of
Lloyd's taragato playing will not be disappointed; it makes a grand appearance on the lengthy "Ramanujan."
Moran's interaction and contrapuntal rhythmic exchanges with
Harland are something to behold here; they push around and through one another in a call-and-response interchange that is subtle but forceful nonetheless.
Rogers' way of playing between these two is like that of a telephone wire, bringing it all together. Of the seven tunes here, five are over ten minutes long. In other words, there is a lot of improvisation going on, but it is all deeply communicative and lyrical --
Lloyd's trademark for the last five decades as a composer, soloist, arranger, and bandleader. Ultimately, Rabo de Nube is yet another essential
Lloyd offering from ECM. His sense of adventure is greater than ever, and his embrace of the tradition is equaled by his willingness to stretch it, bend it, turn it every which way but break it -- this band, with its energy and commitment to new jazz, is well-suited for that task and
Moran certainly adds to the bounty considerably.
Lloyd shows no signs of slowing down or simple contentment as he ages, and we are all the more fortunate for it. ~ Thom Jurek