Customer Reviews

Sangam

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Sangam is a beautiful trio release featuring Lloyd on sax, flutes, piano, etc, Zakir Hussain on tabla and percussion, and Eric Harland on drums, percussion, and piano. This album was recorded live in memory of Lloyd's late friend and musician Billy Higgins. As always, the sound engineering is immaculate (this is on ECM, after all). Beautiful playing by all three. Highly recommended.

I couldn't agree with more the reviewer from Boulder and found most of the amazon comments above, rather asinine, jaded, and unenlightened. Lloyd has one of the most distinctive sounds of any living saxophonist today ( along with Wayne Shorter and Ornette Coleman) One note and there is no mistaking who it is. The only thing I can add is to say that I heard the group in Santa Fe last November and was blown away by the sheer energy, elan, swing, lyricism, depth and soaring of the music. If this live recording doesn't properly reestablish Mr. Lloyd as a fearless explorer and one of our great treasures - I don't know what will. He has always had the ability to bring out the best in his musicians and in this context, he not only does that for Hussain and Harland, but they seem to have the same effect on him. The recorded sound is warm and rich with all of the subltle sonorities of the instruments present. Rarely does one get to hear Hussain sing, a treat indeed. Highly, highly recommened - and don't miss the oportunity to hear this trio or Charles Lloyd with his quartet if he comes within 500 miles of you home town. While it is true Lloyd is deeply rooted in the jazz tradition, he is clearly open to music, all music, and travels the entire surface of our world with his song.

I love Charles Lloyd on ECM !! I have many of his ECM discs... As with many of my favorite artists, I keep a lookout for new releases,so I have been waiting for this one to come out .. I missed his concert with this Trio in Boulder Co last fall... I was working (unfortunately) I bought this on the day of release , and it's been in my player since .. This,according to the liner notes, was their first gig together , which makes it absolutely more amazing ..It was recorded live in 2004.The Tabla talent of Zakir Hussein, Son of the Master, Alla Rakha (forgive spelling)and the tasteful drums of one Eric Harland , push Charles into overdrive , adventurous stuff!! Open your ears , this is a wonderful CD .. the best iv'e heard so far this year(2006) from ANYONE . right on Charles,Zakir and Eric- congrats Charles on your first live release on the fantastic ECM label .

Transcendent, sublime and ecstatically wonderful - Sangam should be included on any and all lists of Best Jazz recordings of 2006. Recorded Live in Santa Barbara, Sangam features the incomparable Charles Lloyd on sax, tarogato, flute and piano, Tabla Master Zakir Hussain and Eric Harland on drums and percussion.

I was fortunate to see these Three Masters live at the Boulder Theater in the Fall of 2005. They revealed a joyous empathy and amazing interplay that was off the charts - easily one of the best jazz concerts I've ever attended.

On Sangam Master Lloyd is a whirling dervish, able to rip and lament while creating and holding the center still point. Hussain and Harland are mind blowing. Six panels of liner notes compliment the 75 minutes of Sonic Sublimity.

Highly recommended - also see the excellent reveiw by Thom Jurek at All Music Guide.

DANG!!! On the mark all day. Excellent. Can't wait until these cats tour.

I don't usually care for ECM stuff as it's a little too light for me....but this...POW!!! All kinds of creative.

You think, "two percussion, & a horn, what could really happen?" Everything happens. Absolutely, without a doubt, three of the most creative musicians in the scene today.

I was even a little concerned going in because of Hussain...eventhough he's the master...you can't pick up anything now days without a tabla up in there....but...because he's the master...he's way past the perimeters of raga raga taga....and is deep inside the jazz spectrum.

Listen to track #7, "Guman" ever & over & over again. You FEEL this cut. If you don't close your eyes and get lost in this one...fuuuurgetaboutit.

I recall sitting in Golden Gate Park during the first Be-In. Charles Lloyd played a haunting melody on his saxophone which he called Forest Flower; that may have been the name of the Album? Unfortunately, short-term memory loss has me on that...

Charles Lloyd, Zakir Hussain and Eric Harland comprise the trio on Sangam, the title of the CD. Sangam, according to the liner notes, which I copied is: a word of multiple definitions which signifies confluence, a meeting place, a gathering or coming together.

Creativity flows as they play from the heart of the universe.
Buy it if you love esoteric, gorgeous, floating sound. Bravo!

Charles Lloyd is an enigmatic figure who first made the scene in the '60s. The following decade saw him drift largely out of the business, making very few records and spending a period of time teaching transcendental meditation. The past 15 years have seen his career revived and taken to new heights through a series of albums with ECM.

His current outing for the label, 'Sangam,' was recorded in '04 at an event billed as 'Homage To Billy Higgins,' the legendary drummer who passed away in 2001.

Drawing upon the inspiration that Higgins had been for him, Lloyd assembled a trio at the Freihofer's Jazz Festival that was rich with rhythmic and percussive possibilities that included himself on tenor and alto saxophones, tarogato, bass and alto flute, piano, and percussion; Zakir Hussain on tabla, voice, and percussion; and Eric Harland on drums, percussion and piano.

The disc captures what transpired that night. The experience was as transcendent as the music, such that Lloyd kept the band, which is now known as the Sangam Trio, and supplements his regular quartet.

Unlike more 'conventional' jazz, where the order of business is typically theme, solo, solo, theme, 'Sangam' is more 'conversational' with the songform providing an outline from which the players engage in an interactive musical dialogue steeped in subtlety and nuance.

With the mentioned array of instruments at its disposal, the trio fashions a wide variety of shapes, colors, textures and sounds. Still its members remain ever mindful of retaining a sense of 'space' in what they do, thereby lending the music an organic ebb and flow that accentuates the individual and collective parts of this dynamic ensemble.

Those following Lloyd's renaissance, as well as those interested in checking him out for the first time, will find 'Sangam' to be an enlightening and indispensable document.

Listening to Charles Lloyd is hearing a direct transmission from the masters of Jazz that Lloyd studied under and worked with.The list is too long to mention but to name but a few Oscar Peterson,Joe Zowenall,Tony Williams,Herbie Hancock,Keith Jarett,Jack DeJonette.The list goes on and on.Other than seeing Jimi Hendrix.I have never felt such an atmosphere of a true musical genius.His comand of time is astonishing as he works with Zakir Hussain on tabla and Eric Harland on drums.When you first see them on stage they look quite stark but from this trio completely based on the formation of a cosmic rythmn section flows a symphony of the freeist and most beautifully harmonic music I have ever heard.
Charles Lloyd reminds us of the basis of Jazz and this free musical tradition, that he came from. That the "beat" is the alchemy and the very soul of this profound music.

I just got this from my friend Charles Lloyd's office!

"The Nobel Committee has requested Charles Lloyd and SANGAM, with Zakir Hussain and Eric Harland to perform during the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo on December 10th."

What a gig!
Bill Donoghue

First off, let me just say that I really enjoy Charles Lloyd's latest release, Sangam. As an album, it has released me, personally, from a drought where I listened to no jazz at all. There came a point when I felt that I had clearly heard all the best jazz, that no new innovations were forthcoming which did not venture headlong into the strange, uncomprehensible and unlistenable avant-garde. This isn't to say that I disapprove of the whole avant-garde, which Lloyd has earned a definite niche therein, but that certain elements of the avant-garde do a disservice to jazz as a whole. Not so for Sangam.

"Sangam" is an Indo-Aryan word meaning "assembly" or "academy," and it refers to the academy in particular in which poets, authors, or, as in the case of Lloyd, Hussain, and Harlan, musicians to gather and release their work. Certainly, choosing the word "sangam" is not coincidental given the meeting between Lloyd's Coltrane-esque arpeggios and Hussain's relentless beat science. In all honesty, with no disrespect to Charles Lloyd, Hussain and drummer Eric Harlan are the true gems of this album. Thom Jurek, of the All Music Guide (AMG), has this to say of Lloyd's latest release:

"Lloyd is the centerpiece and is the melodic and harmonic bridge, what's on offer here is something truly unexpected, something wildly original and essential to jazz-improvisatory communication: the interplay between Harlan's trap drums and Hussain's tablas is utterly astonishing."

I personally believe that Thom Jurek, who is noted for his thorough and critical reviews, has missed the mark this time around: the interplay between Harlan's trap drums and Hussain's tablas are not only utterly astonishing, but several times they take center stage - and when they do, they seem to earn more applause than Lloyd's aging attempt to out maneuvre Coltrane. From the moment Zakir Hussain opens "Dancing on One Foot" through the extended, driving pulse of the title track, drums and tablas become increasingly infectious while Lloyd's sax work can go almost entirely unnoticed. "Nataraj" and "Guman" are a fantastic bridge into the second half where Lloyd's sax and flute work finally begin to blend perfectly with the drums and tablas, which is primarily due to the sudden absence of extended solos by either Harlan or Hussain.

Overall, I cannot say that I would have wanted to have heard more of Lloyd on this album despite it being a Charles Lloyd release due to the fantastic playing by his supporting drums and percussion. However, I cannot say that I would have wanted to have just heard an album strictly based on extended drum solos. I imagine if I desired to hear such an album then I could easily pick up one of Zakir Hussain's solo albums. There is a nice interplay among all instruments here. Charles Lloyd remains a talented musician, even though he is getting up there in age and feasibility, and truly brings a much needed personal spark to what would otherwise be a monotony (and monopoly) of drums and tablas.