Customer Reviews
Or in seventh heaven? - By: A piano fan, 24 Apr 2008 
I wholeheartedly endorse the comments of degrant: this is an absolutely fantastic disc & Charles Lloyd's best of recent times. Part of that has to do with the fact that 'Rabo de Nube' is a live recording. There is just something really special about listening to four musicians hitting sparks off one anotherin a live setting when this works. This disc captures the spontaneity & 'in-the-moment' quality beautifully - what a great night this must have beenin Basle! Another reason why this is so good isin the electric mix of the personalities themselves. What gives the disc such impetus to my mind is above all the contrast & interplay between Lloyds ethereal, sometimes meandering, sometimes floating, but always expressive playing on saxophone & flute & Jason Moran's propulsive piano playing. In fact, it is Moran who is the real revelation on this recording. If his own records on Blue Note sometimes feel too clever for their own good, he is simply on fire here, from the edgy funk of 'Booker's Garden', through the Monk-meets-Free-Jazz intro & solo on 'La Colline de Monk' to the hard bop edge of 'Georgia Bright'. Favourite tracks? 'Promotheus', 'Migration of Spirit', the funky 'Booker's Garden' (Lloyd is great on the flute here), 'La Colline de Monk' & the lush 'Rabo de Nube'. The sound is good too: the next best thing to having Charles Lloydin your living room. In all, magic.
On Cloud Nine - By: degrant, 18 Apr 2008 Cutting to the chase this is the best, most engaging, swinging & jazz-like recording by Charles Lloydin at least a decade. In the current millennium Lloyd has released an eclectic & substantial body of work, from the standards-heavy "The Water is Wide", to the 9/11 inspired collection of spirituals, traditionals & originals that is "Lift Every Voice", to the uneven but massive series of improvisations with the late, great Billy Higgins "Which Way is East" and, most recently the percussion-heavy combination of saxophone, drums & tabla of "Sangam".
All these releases are recommended and, throughout their course, Lloyd displays variously a lyricism, command of atmosphere & prescient sense of rhythm & much of this work, no matter its form, is underpinned by an orientalism and/or mysticism.
For at least the first two thirds of "Rabo da Nube" (meaning "Tail of a Cloud") Lloyd's new quartet unites all those attributes into a near perfect whole. All the players arein fine form & Jason Moran's piano provides the melodic counterpoint to Lloyd & overall harmonic presence sometimes noticeably lacking from "Sangam". While the opener "Prometheus", funky "Booker's Garden" & eastern sounding "Ramunujan" are all fantastic the second track "Migration of Spirit", which certainly has the spirit of A Love Supreme-era Coltrane, is utterly magnificent & Lloyd's finest achievement since his return to musicin the 1990s.
Thereafter, although it is all relative, the final trio of songs (comprising a third of the album's 75 minutes) does not quite live up to the first four. "Sweet Georgia Bright" is an old favourite but is probably the weakest track here. "La colline de Monk" is an entertaining if brief tribute to the great man. However, the concluding title track is undeniably beautiful although I miss John Abercrombie's unmistakeable guitar from the versionin "Lift Every Voice".
In short, more consistent that some of Lloyd's recent releases, & dazzling at best, this is a near essential addition to a great musician's oeuvre.
