Charles Lloyd teams with a different band here, replacing Bobo Stenson's piano with John Abercrombie's guitar, bassist Anders Jormin with Dave Holland, and drummer Billy Hart with Billy Higgins.
The title references the feeling on the album in that Lloyd was going for more of a jazz sound, something more basic and lyrical as opposed to exotic and unusual.
Of the eight tunes here, six are Lloyd originals, one is a cover of the Elvis Costello/Burt Bacharach hit "God Give Me Strength," and one is the Billy Strayhorn classic, "A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing," which follows a gorgeous reprise of Lloyd's own "Forest Flower" from the '60s.
The Costello/Bacharach tune is the most telling for this band in that they take a standard pop melody and turn it into a modal exploration of harmony and chromatic invention.
As Lloyd plays variations on the melody, the band turns one harmonic sequence into a pillar from Coltrane's version of "My Favorite Things" and back.
The "Forest Flower" suite is awesome.
The interplay between Lloyd and Abercrombie is fully realized as they trade flatted sevenths and then Abercrombie moves into augmented ninths and diminished sixths before both Lloyd and he solo against the harmonic body of the tune while retaining its melodic sensibility.
It's just breathtaking.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | God Give Me StrengthBurt Bacharach, Elvis Costello | Charles Lloyd | Play | 04:45 | 10 MB | 26 MB |
| 2 | Dorotea's StudioCharles Lloyd | Charles Lloyd | Play | 07:47 | 17 MB | 35 MB |
| 3 | Pocket Full of BluesCharles Lloyd | Charles Lloyd | Play | 11:41 | 26 MB | 59 MB |
| 4 | HomageCharles Lloyd | Charles Lloyd | Play | 09:26 | 21 MB | 53 MB |
| 5 | Forest Flower: Sunrise/SunsetCharles Lloyd | Charles Lloyd | Play | 15:22 | 35 MB | 81 MB |
| 6 | A Flower Is a Lovesome ThingBilly Strayhorn | Charles Lloyd | Play | 06:49 | 15 MB | 34 MB |
| 55 mins | 127 MB | |||||
| 55 mins | 290 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Abercrombie | Guest Artist, Guitar, Guitar (Baritone) |
| 2 | Burt Bacharach | Composer |
| 3 | Elvis Costello | Composer |
| 4 | Dorothy Darr | Photography |
| 5 | Manfred Eicher | Producer |
| 6 | James Farber | Engineer |
| 7 | Billy Higgins | Drums, Drums (Snare), Guest Artist, Percussion |
| 8 | Dave Holland | Double Bass, Guest Artist |
| 9 | Charles Lloyd | Composer, Primary Artist, Sax (Tenor) |
| 10 | Dieter Rehm | Design |
| 11 | Billy Strayhorn | Composer |
| 12 | Aya Takemura | Assistant Engineer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |