Tone Poem
is the third album by saxophonist
Charles Lloyd
's Americana jazz quintet
the Marvels
-- guitarist
Bill Frisell
, pedal steel guitarist
Greg Leisz
, bassist
Reuben Rogers
, and drummer
Eric Harland
. Cut over several years in California studios and from a Madrid stage, it comprises six covers and three
Lloyd
originals. The album marks the first time the band have recorded without singers. At 82,
is a master of the form who knows what he wants from his sidemen and how to get it.
Reinventions of two
Ornette Coleman
classics introduce the set. The composer's bluesy feel comes through immediately in "Peace" as
Leisz
,
Frisell
, and
engage its relaxed, syncopated melody even more slowly than on the original.
's solo underscores the Middle Eastern modalism in
Coleman
's tags as the string players extrapolate on the blues. On "Ramblin',"
's pedal steel choogles, emulating a train (perhaps the Midnight Flyer out of
's native Memphis). The saxophonist adds a few notes from American folk song "Shortnin' Bread" before grabbing on to
's mutant bop head.
's playing is all sparking blues and shuffling alongside
's.
Harland
's martial rim shots could lead a NOLA second line parade as the jam departs for open spaces. Songwriter
Leonard Cohen
loved and celebrated traditional country music -- he often carried a copy of
Hank Williams
' collected lyrics on tour.
The Marvels
' version of
Cohen
's "Anthem" would have earned his deep appreciation. While the string players follow the languid tempo and harmony,
solos up and down the melody, expanding it incrementally as if it were being imparted to him in a dream. The musician's sensitivity and spiritual empathy are redolent. His "Dismal Swamp" is a funky soul-jazz wherein he leads the band with punchy flute vamps as
paints the margins with
Rogers
roiling the groove. "Monk's Mood" is rendered with lush nocturnal atmospherics as steel and sax share the melody. The pedal steel adds a touch of exotica, but
's comping keeps it earthbound. "Ay Amor" is a reinvention of Cuban singer, songwriter, and pianist
Ignacio Jacinto Villa Fernandez
(aka
Bola de Nieve
).
and company render it with breezy elegance, poignant emotion, and deep respect. Both
Gabor Szabo
's "Lady Gabor" and
's "Prayer" date to the early 1960s when the guitarist and saxophonist were with
Chico Hamilton
's group. On the former, dancing drums and bass meet spiky flute jabs that feed
's biting garagey psychedelia. "Prayer" commences as a spectral ballad featuring
' glorious arco playing before
's tenor carries it outside briefly to the tumult that exists beyond the margin.
's shard-like chords and
's atmospherics frame
's tense tom-tom pulse and muted cymbals. Over nearly nine minutes, it changes shapes several times before the tenor whispers the set out. While the singers on earlier
Marvels
albums offered ready accessibility,
is perhaps more resonant given its consummate musicality and masterful tune curation. ~ Thom Jurek