Jazz breaking news: Charles Lloyd unleashes ECM duo album and box set
Monday, February 18, 2013
Master saxophonist Charles Lloyd (pictured left), who turns 75 in March, releases a highly anticipated duo album on ECM today, entitled Hagar’s Song, with his long time pianist Jason Moran, followed by a retrospective 5CD box set later in March as part of ECM’s Old & New Masters Series.
Hagar’s Song features new interpretations of tunes by Ellington, Gershwin and Billie Holiday alongside reimagined versions of the Beach Boys ‘God Only Knows’ and Bob Dylan’s ‘I Shall Be Released’. But the centrepiece is the suite ‘Hagar’s Song’, a heartrending new piece composed by Lloyd about the life of his great-great-grandmother who was sold into slavery aged 10.
The box set will include the first five albums Lloyd recorded for ECM from the late-1980s onwards, including Fish Out Of Water, Notes From Big Sur, The Call, All My Relations and Canto, all featuring pianist Bobo Stenson, bassists Palle Danielsson and Anders Jormin, and a revolving chair of drummers. Meanwhile the Charles Lloyd Quartet, including Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers and Eric Harland, play the Barbican on 28 April with special guest Greek singer Maria Farantouri, who appeared on the saxophonist’s last album Athens Concert.
– Jon Newey
See the new issue of Jazzwise – in shops Thursday 21 February – for an in-depth interview with Charles Lloyd about the albums or subscribe here to get a FREE CD and save money