Hagar's Song Charles Lloyd & Jason Moran

• 1 Pretty Girl 04:42
• 2 Mood Indigo 05:13
• 3 Bess, You Is My Woman Now 03:36
• 4 All About Ronnie 04:17
• 5 Pictogram 03:56
• 6 You've Changed 04:47
• 7 I. Journey Up River 06:20
• 8 II. Dreams of White Bluff 09:47
• 9 III. Alone 02:29
• 10 IV. Bolivar Blues 04:16
• 11 V. Hagar's Lullaby 05:41
• 12 Rosetta 04:37
• 13 I Shall Be Released 05:07
• 14 God Only Knows 03:30
• Total Runtime 01:08:18

Info for Hagar's Song

“Hagar’s Song”, the newest release from long-time ECM luminary Charles Lloyd, is an interactive duo recording with Jason Moran, the pianist who has been a key member of Lloyd’s latter-day quartet, contributing to the albums Rabo de Nube (2008), Mirror (2010) and Athens Concert (2012). The album features pieces especially dear to Lloyd, ranging from compositions by Billy Strayhorn (“Pretty Girl” a/k/a “Star-Crossed Lovers”), Duke Ellington (“Mood Indigo”), George Gershwin (“Bess, You Is My Woman Now”) and Earl Hines (“Rosetta”) to a standard strongly associated with Billie Holiday (“You’ve Changed”), Brian Wilson’s most famous Beach Boys ballad (“God Only Knows”) and a Bob Dylan song definitively interpreted by the Band (“I Shall Be Released”), played in memory of the late Levon Helm. The centerpiece of the set is the title suite composed by Lloyd and dedicated to his great-great-grandmother, who was taken from her home in south Mississippi at age 10 and sold to a slave-owner in Tennessee. “When I learned the story of her life it moved me very deeply,” says Lloyd. “The suite mirrors the stages of her life; loss of family, loneliness and the unknown, dreams, sorrow, and songs to her newborn children.”

'Saxophonist Charles Lloyd, soon to be 75, here gives an intimate closeup of his warm relationship with brilliant pianist Jason Moran – and with his enslaved great-great-grandmother, who names the album through Lloyd's suite in her memory. Evergreens such as Ellington's Mood Indigo mingle with Dylan's I Shall Be Released and the Beach Boys' God Only Knows – the latter choice reflecting Lloyd's California sojourns with the Beach Boys in the 1970s. There are a few uptempo passages here – including a briskly striding Mood Indigo and a boogieing Rosetta – where Lloyd sounds unsettled by the momentum and the absence of a rhythm section to fill gaps, and uneasily resorts to whirring repeated figures and the same upwardly barrelling run to a resolving note. But for the most part, the album is a testament to the sonic eloquence Lloyd discovered on his comeback via ECM at the end of the 80s – in haunting pieces such as Bess, You Is My Woman Now, the lovely ballad All About Ronnie and the distantly Ornette-like Hagar's Lullaby.' (John Fordham, The Guardian)

Charles Lloyd, tenor, alto saxophones, bass and alto flutes
Jason Moran, piano, tambourine

Produced by Charles Lloyd and Dorothy Darr Recorded April 2012
Studio: Santa Barbara Sound Design
Engineer: Dominic Camardella
Executive Producer: Manfred Eicher

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Charles Lloyd
Charles Lloyd was born in 1938 in Memphis, Tennessee. From an early age, he was immersed in that city's rich musical life, including jazz. He began playing the saxophone at age 9. Pianist Phineas Newborn became his mentor, and from age 12, Lloyd worked as sideman in the blues bands of B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf, Johnnie Ace and Bobbie “Blue” Bland, among others. In 1956, Lloyd moved to Los Angeles and earned a Master’s degree from the University of Southern California. During this time, Lloyd played in Gerald Wilson’s big band, and he also had his own group that included Billy Higgins, Don Cherry, Bobby Hutcherson and Terry Trotter. Lloyd joined Chico Hamilton in 1960, eventually becoming his music director. In 1964, Lloyd left Hamilton's group to join alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley. During this period, Lloyd recorded two albums as a leader for Columbia, Discovery and Of Course, Of Course; his sidemen included Gabor Szabo, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. Through 1965-69, Lloyd led a quartet with Keith Jarrett, Cecil McBee (later, Ron McClure) and Jack DeJohnette. In 1967 Lloyd was voted Downbeat’s Jazzman of the year. The quartet's music was a timely fusion of straight-ahead post-bop, free jazz and world music that caught the attention of both jazz fans and critics. They also achieved crossover success with young rock fans and became the first jazz group to play at the Fillmore. Lloyd’s album Forest Flower: Live at Monterey became a commercial hit, largely on the strength of the title track. Other noteworthy albums included Dream Weaver, on Atlantic. In 1970, after the quartet disbanded, Lloyd moved back to California and entered a state of semi-retirement. He practically disappeared from the jazz scene, but could be heard on recordings with the Doors, Roger McGuinn, Canned Heat and the Beach Boys.

Upon recovery from a near-death experience in 1986, Lloyd decided to rededicate himself to music. He started performing live again in the late ’80s and began recording for ECM Records, showcasing his gifts as a composer and ballad player. The first ECM release was 1989’s Fish Out of Water with Bobo Stenson, Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen. Between 1993 and 1997, Lloyd’s quartet included Bobo Stenson, Anders Jormin and Billy Hart. In 1998, Billy Higgins replaced Hart, and Lloyd alternated between Stenson and John Abercrombie in the band. Noteworthy albums include Canto, Voice In The Night and The Water Is Wide (featuring Brad Mehldau, John Abercrombie, Larry Grenadier and Billy Higgins). Geri Allen replaced Stenson as pianist for Lift Every Voice and Jumping the Creek. Drummer Eric Harland joined Lloyd’s quartet in 2002, following Billy Higgins’ passing, and is also a part of Lloyd’s Sangam trio, formed in 2004 with tabla master Zakir Hussain. Lloyd’s “new” quartet with Jason Moran, bassist Reuben Roger and drummer Eric Harland have released three ECM albums, the most recent being Athens Concert, in collaboration with Greek singer Maria Farantouri.

Jason Moran
Unfazed by the distinguished pianists who have played with Lloyd over the course of his long career, Jason Moran has found his own, exciting way to play inside the saxophonist’s musical concepts. As The New York Times once observed, Moran reaches both further back in the jazz tradition and further outside it than most of his contemporaries. His strongly chordal approach and his percussive originality took off from an early interest in Thelonious Monk, but Moran’s studies with three great teachers – Jaki Byard, Andrew Hill and Muhal Richard Abrams – encouraged him to find his own path. Moran, born in 1975, has recorded a number of acclaimed albums as a leader (including, most recently, the award-winning trio disc Ten), being voted Jazz Artist of the Year in the DownBeat Critics Poll and awarded a MacArthur “Genius” Award along the way. The Los Angeles Times has said of the pianist: “Although he has the facility to play with breathtaking fleetness, his uniqueness traces to his refusal to be locked into predictable, bebop-based patterns.” And, according to the Village Voice, “Moran is like no other pianist at work. His improvisations are dynamic, eruptive, keyed to the compositions at hand.” In addition to his albums as part of Lloyd’s quartet, Moran recorded Lost in a Dream for ECM with Paul Motian and Chris Potter, a collection of ballads taped live at the Village Vanguard.

Booklet for Hagar's Song