ARCHIE SHEPP & JASON MORAN - Let My People Go (2021) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

A brilliant addition to the great "Jazz-duo-tradition", this blues-drenched, free-floating outing by two masters from very divergent generations.
Shepp hasn't lost any of his verve and roughness... on the contrary, listen to his hoarse voice growl like a caged animal on "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" !
Moran quietly became one of Jazz's greatest modern piano players but here he digs a lot "deeper" than on any of his other outings.
Mostly classic ballads (Ellington, Strayhorn, Coltrane and Monk get baffling "free treatments") but brought with such an expressionistic intensity, it's seems like you're witnessing some sort of introspective ritual jam/voodoo session. Alain Robert
Tracklist :
1    Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child    8:21
2    Isfahan 6:11
Written-By – Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington
3    He Cares 6:42
Written-By – Jason Moran
4    Go Down Moses    7:01
5    Wise One 13:13
Written-By – John Coltrane
6    Lush Life 8:49
7    Round Midnight 8:32
Written-By – Cootie Williams, Thelonious Monk
Credits
Piano – Jason Moran
Saxophone, Vocals – Archie Shepp

CHARLES LLOYD QUARTET - Rabo de Nube (2008) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

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.
|> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <|
Tracklist :
1    Prometheus    14:43
Charles Lloyd
2    Migration Of Spirit    10:15
Charles Lloyd
3    Booker's Garden    14:33
Charles Lloyd
4    Ramanujan    11:38
Charles Lloyd
5    La Colline De Monk    4:01
Charles Lloyd
6    Sweet Georgia Bright    12:17
Charles Lloyd
7    Rabo De Nube    7:36
Silvio Rodríguez Domínguez
Credits :
Double Bass – Reuben Rogers
Drums, Percussion – Eric Harland
Piano – Jason Moran
Tenor Saxophone, Alto Flute, Tárogató – Charles Lloyd

CHARLES LLOYD QUARTET - Mirror (2010) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

When Charles Lloyd showcased his quartet in a live setting on 2008's Rabo de Nube, it was one of the more exciting, free-flowing dates of that year. It was physical, full of intense engagement and fiery energy. On that date, he performed a number of tunes he'd recorded before, along with new compositions. Mirror, recorded with the same band -- drummer Eric Harland, pianist Jason Moran, and bassist Reuben Rogers -- in a Santa Barbara studio, is, as the title suggests, a mirror image of the previous outing. Here too, the saxophonist revisits some older material with, thanks in large part to his sidemen, new ears. The material is mostly gently swinging ballads and outré investigations showcasing an even more spiritual side to Lloyd's playing and arranging. But it also displays the great intuitive nuances this band is capable of. While the set opens with an elegant and gently swinging reading of the standard "I Fall in Love Too Easily," it's the follow-up, the spiritual "Go Down Moses," that showcases the group's persona with its modal, questioning concerns, while keeping the tune firmly in the church. The title track appeared on 1989's Canto, and is here performed with the kind of deep commitment and sense of interdependent energy only time and wisdom can impart. Another tune from that album, "Desolation Sound," while still a ballad, features a lot more engagement from the players here: Moran's solo looks in and through the changes to find a way outside and gets there. Harland's shimmering breaks add more crackle than on the original. Likewise, "The Water Is Wide" and "Lift Every Voice and Sing" are performed, in their restrained way, more energetically than they were on their respective albums. One of Mirror's great surprises is a tender reading of the Beach Boys' "Caroline, No." While the melody is inescapable, Lloyd very quickly transforms it into a jazz ballad of haunting, romantic beauty. On a pair of Monk tunes here -- "Ruby, My Dear" and "Monk's Mood" -- Moran's own musical personality is given free rein. He expresses it with his deft senses of rhythmic and harmonic intuition, underscoring unexpected phrases and elaborating on others. Ultimately, Mirror is another Lloyd triumph. It may not shake the rafters with its kinetics, but it does dazzle with the utterly symbiotic interplay between leader and sidemen.
|> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <|
Tracklist :
1     I Fall in Love Too Easily 5'00
Sammy Cahn / Jule Styne
2     Go Down Moses 5'59
Traditional    
3     Desolation Sound 7'03
Charles Lloyd    
4     La Llorona 5'35
Traditional    
5     Caroline, No 4'02
Tony Asher / Brian Wilson    
6     Monk's Mood 5'01
Thelonious Monk
7     Mirror 6'42
Charles Lloyd
8     Ruby, My Dear 5'25
Thelonious Monk
9     The Water Is Wide 7'19
Traditional    
10     Lift Every Voice and Sing 4'29
James Weldon Johnson / John R. Johnson    
11     Being and Becoming 7'02
Charles Lloyd    
12     Tagi 9'17
Charles Lloyd
Credits :
Double Bass – Reuben Rogers
Drums, Voice – Eric Harland
Executive-Producer – Manfred Eicher
Photography By – Dorothy Darr
Piano – Jason Moran
Producer – Charles Lloyd, Dorothy Darr
Tenor Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Voice – Charles

CHARLES LLOYD | MARIA FARANTOURI - Athens Concert (2011) 2xCD | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

No one, save for perhaps Charles Lloyd, could have predicted that when he resumed his recording career in 1989 with ECM, he would scale such artistic heights as a player, a mentor, and a bandleader. Lloyd has taken part in many fascinating musical experiments: with the late Billy Higgins in Sangam with drummer Eric Harland and Indian master percussionist Zakir Hussain, as well as on his many quartet recordings. The latest version, with bassist Reuben Rodgers, Harland, and pianist Jason Moran, has been together just over four years. It should come as no surprise then, that The Athens Concert, a double disc with the truly legendary Greek contralto Maria Farantouri, is as full of the exploratory wonder and delight as his other dates for the label. Farantouri is regarded in her own country as Edith Piaf was in France. Lloyd's band and Farantouri are assisted by Socratis Sinopoulos on lyra. "Kratissa Toi Zoi Mou (I Kept a Hold of My Life)," is a tune by Mikis Theodorakis set to a poem by George Seferis. Versions of Lloyd's "Dream Weaver" and "Prayer" are the only real instrumental tracks, and his song "Blow Wind" contains lyrics sung in English by Farantouri. The tune "Requiem" is a jazz number with lyrics by the famed writer/lyricist Agathi Dimitrouka. The three-part, 15-song Greek Suite takes up the lion's share of the performance. It is comprised of tunes that range from a Byzantine-era hymn to traditional songs from various regions of Greece, two more Theodorakis tunes, and one by composer Eleni Karaindrou (also an ECM artist) entitled "Voyage to Cythera." The suite was arranged by Takis Farazis, who also plays an additional piano on set-closer "Yanni Mou," and with Sinopoulos, bridges the two traditions. There isn't anything to really describe this music other than to say it is equally out of historical time and simultaneously concurrent within its stream. The two musical traditions -- post-millennial jazz and those of Greece's various eras and regions -- are made seamless, creating an entirely new and singular work that is dramatic, subtle, completely soulful, and full of startling musicianship. Indeed, the quartet plays this music as if it were part of their standard repertoire for a very special occasion. Improvisation, harmonic invention, and Lloyd's singular sense of leadership don't demand fine performances from his players; they are given freely. In turn, he offers his finest to Farantouri, who brings the collective bounty to the listening audience. The Athens Concert is truly inspirational and quite a watermark in a career full of them for Lloyd.
|> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <|
Tracklist 1 :
1    Kratissa Ti Zoi Mou (I Kept Hold Of My Life) 5'59
Lyrics By [Poem By] – George Seferis
Music By – Mikis Theodorakis
2    Dream Weaver (Hyfantis Oneiron) 8'10
Music By – Charles Lloyd
3    Blow Wind (Fyssa Ayeri) 5'34
Lyrics By, Music By – Charles Lloyd
4    Requiem 5'57
Lyrics By – Agathi Dimitrouka
Music By – Charles Lloyd
Greek Suite, Part I    
5    Hymnos Stin Ayia Triada (Hymn To The Holy Trinity) 4'03
[Early Byzantine Hymn] – Traditional
6    Epano Sto Xero Homa (In The Dry Soil) 2'52
Lyrics By, Music By – Mikis Theodorakis
7    Messa Stous Paradissious Kipous (In The Paradise Gardens) 4'49
Lyrics By, Music By – Mikis Theodorakis
8    Taxidi Sta Kythera (Voyage To Cythera) 4'35
Lyrics By, Music By – Eleni Karaindrou
Tracklist 2 :
1    Prayer (Prosethi) 7'58
Music By – Charles Lloyd
Greek Suite, Part II    
2    Vlefaro Mou (Oh Eyelid) 3'32
Lyrics By – Lina Nikolakopoulou
Music By – Nikos Kypourgos
3    Margaritarenia 1'29
Traditional From Smyrna
4    Thalassaki Mou (My Little Sea) 2'57
Composed By – Traditional From Dodecanese Islands
Greek Suite, Part III    
5    Epirotiko Meroloi (Lament From Epirus Region) 6'28
[Lament From Epirus Region] – Traditional
6    Kægomæ Kæ Sigoliano (I Burn And Slowly Melt) 5'00
Traditional From Epirus Region
7    Mori Kontoula Lemonia (Little Lemon Tree) 2'40
Traditional From Epirus Region
8    Alismono Kæ Hæromæ (I Forget And I Am Glad) 3'08
Composed By – Traditional From Epirus Region
9    Tou Hel' To Kastron (The Castle Of The Sun) 4'28
Traditional From The Black Sea
10    Yanni Mou (My Yanni) 7'27
Composed By – Traditional From Epirus Region
Piano [Additional Piano] – Takis Farazis
Credits :
Double Bass – Reuben Rogers
Drums – Eric Harland
Lyre [Lyra] – Socratis Sinopoulos
Piano – Jason Moran
Piano [Additional Piano], Arranged By [Arrangements Of The Greek Suite] – Takis Farazis (pistas: 1-5 to 1-7, 2-2 to 2-9)
Producer – Dorothy Darr, Manfred Eicher
Saxophone, Flute, Tárogató [Tarogato] – Charles Lloyd
Voice – Maria Farantouri

CHARLES LLOYD | JASON MORAN - Hagar's Song (2013) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Hagar's Song is a deeply intimate, intuitive offering from saxophonist Charles Lloyd and pianist Jason Moran, who has been a key part of Lloyd's quartet since 2007. The program is a collection of standards and originals, as well as one thorny, angular free improvisation ("Pictogram"). The title piece is a five-part suite dedicated to the memory of Lloyd's great-great grandmother, who spent most of her life as a slave. Its various sections reflect the harshness of that life, as well as moments of hope and determination. This work is not always "comfortable" to listen to, and it's not meant to be, but it is musically rich and emotionally taut. Lloyd has always celebrated his deep love of jazz and pop traditions, and those are in abundance here. The near-symbiotic dialogue the pair share on Billy Strayhorn's "Pretty Girl" and George Gershwin's "Bess You Is My Woman Now" offers both dialogic imagination as well as deep listening. (On the latter, Lloyd reveals how supple his tonal reach remains on the tenor as he nears 75; he sweeps from its middle register to something closer to the alto's.) The swinging read of "Mood Indigo" commences conventionally, but Moran's deft, blues-drenched, physical stride lends an urgency to the conversation. Likewise his punchy approach on Earl Hines' "Rosetta," where Lloyd takes the melody and opens up its joy vein, while Moran pumps it with rhythmic and lyric invention courtesy of his amazing left hand. Lloyd's love of rock and pop has its place here, too. On Bob Dylan's ballad "I Shall Be Released," Moran begins with a single repeating note, then a lone chord, as Lloyd tentatively states the melody. But by the second verse, he's quoting from Leon Russell's "A Song for You," as Moran moves its harmonic base to the modal. Lloyd brings it back via an emotional blues, but his tenor moves through its registers picking bits and pieces of the lyric line to meditate upon and explore with Moran. The closer, a reading of Brian Wilson's "God Only Knows" is just gorgeous. Moran's elaboration on the harmony in the intro sets it up outside its known parameters. Lloyd quotes the refrain and then takes the lyric line, exploring time and memory -- Lloyd ran around with the Beach Boys in Southern California in the late '60s. Satisfied, he turns it over to Moran to finish with a close, tender harmonic statement that whispers to a finish. Hagar's Song finds Lloyd and Moran at their most naturally curious and deeply attentive best, offering a conversation so intimate the listener may occasionally feel she is eavesdropping.
|> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <|
Tracklist :
1     Pretty Girl 4'51
Billy Strayhorn    
2     Mood Indigo 5'17
Duke Ellington    
3     Bess, You Is My Woman Now 3'39
George Gershwin    
4     All About Ronnie 4'20
Joe Greene    
5     Pictogram 3'59
Charles Lloyd    
6     You've Changed 4'51
Carl Fischer    
7     Hagar Suite: Journey Up River 6'20
Charles Lloyd    
8     Hagar Suite: Dreams of White Bluff 9'46
Charles Lloyd    
9     Hagar Suite: Alone 2'30
Charles Lloyd    
10     Hagar Suite: Bolivar Blues 4'18
Charles Lloyd    
11     Hagar Suite: Hagar's Lullaby 5'44
Charles Lloyd    
12     Rosetta 4'41
Earl Hines    
13     I Shall Be Released 5'11
Bob Dylan    
14     God Only Knows 3'31
Brian Wilson
Credits :
Piano, Tambourine – Jason Moran
Producer – Charles Lloyd, Dorothy Darr
Tenor Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Flute [Bass Flute], Flute [Alto Flute] – Charles Lloyd

CHARLES LLOYD NEW QUARTET - Passin' Thru (2017) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Though the Charles Lloyd New Quartet has been together for a decade, they haven't recorded as a group since 2011's Athens Concert, when the saxophonist was still signed to ECM. Bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland were part of the Marvels' quintet for I Long to See You in 2016, and Lloyd most recently recorded with pianist Jason Moran on the duet offering Hagar's Song (also issued by ECM) in 2013. But not recording together doesn't mean the same thing as not playing, as amply evidenced here.

Passin' Thru finds the great saxophonist looking back through his catalog as well as offering new material. Set-opener "Dream Weaver," the set's longest track, served as the title cut of Lloyd's very first quartet leader date in 1966 (with Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette, and bassist Cecil McBee). It is also the outlier in terms of locale, recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival while the remainder was captured at The Lensic in Sante Fe. This version commences with a modal, post-Coltrane intro as the saxophonist explores tones and space before Harland checks into its groove, one that touches on blues, folk music, a pop-style chorus and gospel before moving off to explore Eastern modalities, post-bop, and (some) dissonance before circling back to its lovely melody. "Nu Blues" is a striking fingerpopper that flirts with bop and R&B as well as the outside, giving plenty of room to Moran's fluid, virtuosic pianism and Harland's hard-swinging drum inventions as Rogers walks the hell out of his bass. His bassline introduces the bluesy "Tagore on the Delta." Moran spends its first half strumming the instruments strings zither-like as Lloyd digs deep into the groove with his flute, finding heat in Harland's heavy snare and hi-hat attack. At the midpoint, Moran moves to the keys and delivers a mean, meaty solo. The title track dates to 1963. Lloyd first recorded it as a member of the Chico Hamilton Quintet. Rogers opens it alternately plucking and strumming his strings, flirting with blues as well as modalism before Harland enters in double time, playing rim shots and accents. Moran adds a popping a chordal pattern before Lloyd enters and moves to the center, offering it as a quick, dance-like excursion into bop. Moran's solo is equal parts lightning and grace while Rogers engages him in trading fours before Lloyd -- ever the generous bandleader -- inspired by Harland, duets with him in startling feat of athletic lyricism. While this heart stopper could easily have been the album closer, it finishes with "Shiva's Prayer": a droning, abstracted meditative piece that includes lovely arco playing from Rogers. At 79, Lloyd shows no signs of slowing down. On Passin Thru', his quartet delivers a truckload of joy, grit, grace, and passion.
|>This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa'<|
Tracklist :
1    Dream Weaver    17:45
2    Part 5, Ruminations    11:54
3    Nu Blues    11:51
4    How Can I Tell You    9:46
5    Tagore On The Delta    7:45
6    Passin' Thru    7:22
7    Shiva Prayer    8:24
Credits :
Bass – Reuben Rogers
Saxophone, Flute, Composed By, Producer – Charles Lloyd
Design, Photography By, Producer – Dorothy Darr
Drums – Eric Harland
Piano – Jason Moran