This is a Japanese issue with a Japanese sleeve. I don't speak Japanese so I have had to do a little research to discover the personnel. The original issue had nine tracks but this reissue has a bonus three in addition. The personnel on the original nine tracks is Charles on tenor and flute, Gabor Szabo on guitar, Ron Carter on bass and Tony Williams on drums. Of the three bonus tracks 'Island Blues' and 'Sun Dance' replace bass and drums with Albert Stinson and Pete La Roca, and Szabo is also out, although replaced by Robbie Robertson, apparently a rock guitarist on 'Sun Dance'. The remaining bonus track 'East Of The Sun' has either of the two bass and drum teams depending on what you are reading. Of the original tunes 'The Things We Did Last Summer' is a beautiful duet between Lloyd and Szabo, and 'Apex' is a driving trio piece without guitar. So, there's quite a lot of variety. Lloyd is impressive on both instruments with a nice line in moody ballads but also playing some muscular tenor. Quite often he plays in the upper part of the tenor's register, frequently using a broken line, in which he is joined by Szabo, where they play what is virtually a duet above the rhythm section. Many of the compositions are his own, and he has a gift for catchy melodies that stay in the mind. I find his earlier recordings such as this to be more attractive than his later ECM work, good as that is, because they are more varied and lively and less ruminative. Szabo is as usual highly original, with his quirky lines and dissonant chords. On this he sticks rigidly to the jazz and does not move into fusion at all. The two are a perfect combination and it is a pity they played together so little afterwards. Both sets of bass and drums sound similar and both fit like a glove into a well balanced quartet. Both are supportive, both rhythmically and melodically. Robertson, the alien being in the band, fits in surprisingly well, and obviously had listened hard to Mr. Szabo. A well knit group, playing attractive and interesting music.
5つ星のうち4.0Bridge Between Two Lloyd Styles is Surprisingly Sedate but very Enjoyable
2016年3月15日にアメリカ合衆国でレビュー済み
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It's unfortunate that, of all of the fantastic albums Charles Lloyd made as a leader in the sixties, this one, his second, is so hard to find. Mosaic made a small batch in the late 2000s (that quickly sold out), and now that same mastering is being released in Japan at a decent price. Why would a record featuring Tony Williams on drums, Ron Carter on bass, and Gabor Szabo on (amazing) gypsy-esque guitar get so overlooked? It turns out that there's something of an answer.
Prior to this album, Lloyd had been making surprisingly intense music with a Chico Hamilton band that included Szabo (and Albert Stinson), and sometimes trombone. These records (especially "Man of Two Worlds") would integrate Coltrane-style modal work with a surprisingly fiery band, and all four albums with that lineup should be purchased before this one. Lloyd then made two albums for Columbia that are both very good, but are both substantially more commercial than the albums with Hamilton. The recently issued (and VERY wonderful) live recordings made around this time with Szabo and Carter joined with drummer Pete LaRoca seem to blame Columbia records for this, as Lloyd is in high energy live with much the same band, moving into (light) avant-garde territory and lots of depth. So is this worth the time then?
Of course, of course. Lloyd has some terrific originals paired with more commercial covers, and the first half in particular (especially the surprising duet with Szabo on "The Things We Did Last Summer") really gets it. "Apex" has a nice fire to it, and the title track has been re-covered by Lloyd throughout his career for a reason: it's one of his best. The second side, though, cools a bit much. Nothing's wrong, of course, but even Williams can't seem to get worked up in the blues workout "Third Floor Richard", and the way the band tears up the stage on the live set, it's clear that they're holding back a bit. That Lloyd got dropped by Columbia before he could complete a third record that fall (later released as most of "Nirvana") is telling to the concern Lloyd must have had with staying on the label. Still, this is a good one, and fans of any of these musicians can be recommended to buy it. First, however, consider those amazing Hamilton records, or pick up "Manhattan Stories", which contains the two live sets referenced above. By the time of his next studio record, "Dream Weaver", Lloyd would have his "classic quartet" gathered, and he would make no less than seven live albums in three years after, showing the love the public gave that band. But first he was here, and if nothing else it shows a major artist in transition, not quite as strong as he soon would be.