Charles Lloyd tenor saxophone, flute Bobo Stenson piano Palle Danielsson bass Jon Christensen drums Recorded July 1989 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo Engineer: Jan Erik Kongshaug Produced by Manfred Eicher Tennessean saxophonist Charles Lloyd jumped indeed like a fish out of water into the spotlight with this seminal ECM debut. For his first major release after a reclusive period, Lloyd was joined by the great Bobo Stenson on piano and Keith Jarrett’s European quartet rhythm section (bassist Palle Danielsson and drummer Jon Christensen). Lloyd’s signature tenor, smoky and viscous, floats through Stenson’s smooth action at the keys in the nine-minute title cut, which opens a program of seven originals. The delicacy of these two melody makers is the album’s bread and butter, intensely apparent from the beginning. Stenson draws freshly honed memories from Lloyd’s comforts, while the reedman takes pause and feeds back into the loop with even darker expressions. The unwrapping of lyrical presents continues under this Christmas tree in “Mirror,” throughout which brushed drums and a resonant bass provide a plain of fulcrums on which Lloyd balances smooth hits and fluttering asides alike, only to diversify things with flute in the contemplative “Haghia Sophia.” Again, from this Stenson manages to emote so complementarily that we almost get lost in the swirling oceanic foam from which arises a tenored Aphrodite. “The Dirge” is another pure, heavy drop into a limpid pool of soul that is reason enough to at least hear this album, if not have it with you as you grow. Two grooves await us in “Bharati” and “Eyes Of Love.” The former is seek, refined, and oh so moving. Lloyd speaks mostly in half-whispers, never louder than a private declaration, while the latter unfolds some of his most buttery soft playing on record. A buoyant yet introspective solo from Danielsson trips us into the rejoinder, which keeps the cool, blue fires stoked well into the flute-driven “Tellaro” which ends the set. Here, Lloyd releases Stenson adrift as if a flower upon a river, returning as a fish swimming beneath him into a forest where we cannot follow. Lloyd mythology paints his hiatus prior to this album as a period of soul searching, during which he is said to have nearly abandoned music, only to return refreshed and pouring his all into the art form that so defines him (if not the other way around). And yet we clearly see that in the recordings since his soul searching has never stopped, for it continues to inhabit every breath that passes his reed. Even when Lloyd isn’t playing, there always seems to be a thin line connecting every stretch of silence. In this respect, we find here a spiritual level of jazz from artists all the more prodigious for their humility. In spite of their incendiary potential, they choose to cook rather than flare, each bringing his sensitivity to bear upon these insightful forays into melody and surrender. Tender to the utmost.