Mirror

Charles Lloyd | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 14, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ecm Records
• ASIN: B003NBBNEU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #74,045 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Many critics have opined that Lloyd's "New Quartet", with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers and Eric Harland may be the best of all his groups. The quartet's previous release in this line-up, the live-recorded Rabo de Nube, met with across-the-board approval and was voted #1 album of the year in both the Critics and Readers Polls of JazzTimes. Mirror is the first studio album by the Lloyd-Moran-Rogers-Harland unit and it features beautiful, transformed versions of favorites including both Lloyd originals and tunes Charles has made his own over the years. There is a pair of Thelonious Monk tunes, "Ruby, My Dear" and "Monk's Mood", as well as hymns and traditionals including "Go Down Moses", "Lift Every Voice And Sing", and "The Water Is Wide". Lloyd covers Brian Wilson's' "Caroline, No" (the saxophonist guested on several Beach Boys albums in the 70s, including the classic "Surf's Up"), and plays an achingly lovely version of the standard "I Fall In Love Too Easily". Lloyd originals include "Desolation Sound", "Mirror", "Tagi" (which includes a Bhagavad Gita inspired spoken-word meditation by Lloyd) and "Being and Becoming". The band plays superbly. Interaction between Jason Moran and the elastic rhythm section of Harland and Rogers is agile and alert in every moment. While each of these three players is completely in tune with Lloyd's way of working, none of them had yet been born when Charles had his idiomatic breakthrough with "Forest Flower" in 1967. Moran recalls that his father encouraged him to listen to Forest Flower when he was just starting to check out jazz, and the album was part of the soundtrack of his childhood.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars CHARLES LLOYD'S MARVELOUS BALLADS & ANTHEMS: STANDARDS & ORIGINALS September 14, 2010

By RBSProds TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

Five INVIGORATING Stars! Marvelous performances by the Charles Lloyd Quartet in the followup to the award-winning, live Rabo de Nube (Tail Cloud or Whirlwind). Mr Lloyd, the venerable tenor sax titan, at age 72 is still an ascendant marvel of great improvisational invention and compositional imagination. He is playing with a talented group that wasn't even born when he first announced his presence to the jazz world by lighting up his original version of "Forest Flower" with guitarist Gábor Szabó on Chico Hamilton's Man From Two Worlds. This is the first studio date from this very talented and cohesive group which includes Jason Moran on piano, Reuben Rogers on bass, and Eric Harland on drums and finds them in a more pensive, balladic mood, but still intense and very inspired. Also, LLoyd plays alto sax on this CD. From a lovely, intense version of "I Fall In Love Too Easily" to a buoyant "Go Down Moses" delivered over a driving beat to 2 Monk ballads to originals and one ringer, among others, this is beautiful, introspective swinging jazz. The other top performances begin with the title track "Mirror" which gets a memorable performance, that went straight to my crowded iPod. The ringer here is the rock hit "Caroline, No" by Lloyd's friend Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds CD: Lloyd takes it to the jazz 'woodshed', turning a rock beauty into a luminous jazz ballad that proves music is truly universal, especially in the hands of a master. The anthem "Lift Every Voice and Sing" will surprise many with its beautiful interactive free section. The other ballads "La Llorona" and "Desolation Sound", which is anything but desolate, are impressive tone poems which are perfect foils for the classic Lloyd sound. The final long track, "Tagi", has a vocal religious meditation amid the rising crescendos: the music is inspirational as intended especially the sonorous arco bass lines and Charles' soaring sax. This CD, with a generous 12 tracks, is enjoyable proof that going into his 6th decade of jazz excellence, the amazing Charles Lloyd continues to push the envelope, gaining musical ground and spiritual breadth, finding musicians and music that provide challenge, not comfort. "Music is a healing force", indeed! My Highest Recommendation! Five INSPIRED Stars! (This review is based on an iTunes download of 12 tracks: ~1:09:28. Trivia: Charles LLoyd was a member of the Beach Boys road and studio band for a fair amount of time, during a lull away from jazz: also sharing the TM spiritual approach to life with band members Al Jardine and Mike Love. This was after his own legendary and lucrative Forest Flower: Charles Lloyd at Monterey LP became one of the rare true jazz recordings to sell a million copies, reaching a very diverse audience.)

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Feel October 1, 2010

By Dr. Debra Jan Bibel TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

It has been a long road since Forest Flower and Monterey for Charles Lloyd. While the spirituality and wonderful saxophone tone carries over from his recent semi-New Age, quiet, free jazz [ECM-sound] albums, this new opus is absolutely mainstream and swings. The new direction, built upon the previous album "Rabo de Nube", is much welcomed, for it is strong, more varied, and exceedingly expressive. Lloyd's new quartet has solidified and is grand. Jason Moran never gets in the way with his accented piano work, until his sweeping solos, and Eric Harland's drums adds spice and punch. The bass of Reuben Rogers keeps the group grounded in the beat. Lloyd himself is simply beautiful. His Desolation Sound is not desolate but majestic. The two Monk ballads are taken slow and thoughful, rich in melody and improvisation. The reprises of The Water is Wide and Lift Every Voice and Sing have entirely different flavors, a touch of Horace Silver funk in the first instance and Keith Jarrett in the second, and they soar. The final two tracks once again echo the mystic East, as a reminder of previous journeys; although they contrast sharply with the preceding pieces, they nonetheless are splendid meditations. Tagi indeed is a religious narration with accompaniment. "Mirror" has become my favorite Charles Lloyd album.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable - THE BEST Charles Lloyd Work October 6, 2010

By G

Format:Audio CD

I have been a lifelong admirer of Charles Lloyd's music. As such it is saying allot (for me) that this is his best work. The formative stuff with Chico Hamilton and the initial Columbia albums were superb; the work on Atlantic with Keith Jarrett - while uneven at times - had its wonderful moments and a great sense of adventure; then there was a bit of a lost period at least musically (likely not spiritually); then the recordings on Elektra with Petruciaani (early 80's I believe; and then the ECM stuff (starting with Bobo Stenson in the band) - are there around 20 ECM now; I am losing count but have every one. I only had one opprtunity to see Charles play - about 15 years ago at the Blue Note with Bobo Stenson - wow. This newest band is incredible; Charles' sound is heavenly; the tunes are consistently beautiful; the synergy of the band exmplary. For me this is not only the best jazz album this year but maybe of the best five years. I am floored - an absolute keeper and may all the gods bless this man.