Search - Charles Lloyd :: Notes From Big Sur

Echoes of the quieter and bluer John Coltrane are heard frequently here in Charles Lloyd's horn, and some of his writing, too. Lloyd and Swedish pianist Bobo Stenson, Lloyd's collaborator throughout the 1990s, contribute occasional, measured energy, but for the most part it is measure and phrasing that predominate, beginning at the opening with a genuinely affecting "Requiem." At times there are indications of Lloyd's late-1990s gravitation to transporting, meditative performance--for example, "Persevere," part 1 of "Pilgrimage to the Mountain," begins with a contemplative arco bass solo from Anders Jormin suggestive of travels in body and spirit to high, distant places. Drummer Ralph Peterson joins gently on hammers, then Lloyd, ever so quietly. Part 2 of "Pilgrimage," entitled "Surrender," partially refrains that effect at the album's end, and the East-inflected "Takur" is similarly ethereal. Elsewhere, the album generally steers more conventional soundways, to satisfying ends, nonetheless. --Peter Monaghan