Charles Lloyd - Fish Out of Water (ECM, 1989)

This post is by Dan

Charles Lloyd (ts, fl); Bobo Stenson (p); Palle Danielsson (b); Jon Christensen (d)

Recorded July, 1989

I have been listening to Charles Lloyd since his early Columbia and Atlantic albums. Love-In and Dream Weaver were always either on the turntable or close by. The power of his incendiary "Tribal Dance," performed live at the Fillmore Auditorium, was an early peak listening experience. Lloyd then went into a period of semi-seclusion, issuing albums in the 1970s that seemed closer to new age music than jazz. His duet with harpist Georgia Kelly (Big Sur Tapestry, Pacific Arts, 1979) was okay for meditation but I seldom played it.

As legend has it, French pianist Michel Petrucciani sought out Lloyd in the 1980s on his first visit to the U.S. This contact reawakened Lloyd's jazz career and resulted in the release of a pair of live albums (Montreaux 1982, Elektra Musician, 1982; and A Night in Copenhagen, Blue Note, 1984). I didn't pay much attention to these, but Fish Out of Water (Lloyd's ECM debut) successfully linked his past with his future. ECM equipped him with the terrific band of Bobo Stenson, Palle Danielsson and John Christensen. Lloyd's six original compositions unfold unhurriedly in their hands and form a coherent whole that is both meditative and musically satisfying.  

Lloyd's tone on the tenor is unique and hard to describe. It's both soft and powerful while being enormously expressive. As one reviewer put it, "smoky of flavor and viscous of texture" (Charles Lloyd – Between Sound and Space: ECM Records and Beyond (ecmreviews.com)). His sound perfectly complements the complex details created by the rhythm section, which plays superbly. The digital recording was made in Oslo's Rainbow Studio where so many great ECM albums were recorded. The CD and vinyl pressings are sonically pristine.

Fish Out of Water led to another 15 albums on ECM by 2013. Currently, Lloyd has returned to the Blue Note label with several critically acclaimed albums. His role as jazz elder has been duly celebrated. 

Lloyd's "resurrection" in the 1980s is a remarkable story not only about Lloyd the artist, but also about the possibilities inherent in jazz as an art form.