Release Date: 18 February 2013
Label: ECM Records
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 602537245505
Genres: Jazz Contemporary
Description
Hagar's Song, from long-time ECM luminary Charles Lloyd, is an interactive duo recording with Jason Moran, the pianist who has been a key member of Lloyd's latter-day quartet (contributing to the albums Rabo de Nube, Mirror and Athens Concert) comes in time to mark Lloyd's 75th birthday on 15 March, 2013, and its centrepiece, the suite of the title, is very personal.
The 'Hagar Suite' is composed by the saxophonist and dedicated to his great-great-grandmother, who was taken from her home in south Mississippi at age 10 and sold to a slave-owner in Tennessee, who impregnated her when she was 14. "When I learned the story of Hagar's life it moved me very deeply," says Lloyd. "The suite mirrors the stages of her life; loss of family, loneliness and the unknown, dreams, sorrow, and songs to her newborn children."
The recording also features pieces especially dear to Lloyd, ranging from compositions by Billy Strayhorn ("Pretty Girl" a/k/a "Star-Crossed Lovers"), Duke Ellington ("Mood Indigo"), George Gershwin ("Bess, You Is My Woman Now") and Earl Hines ("Rosetta") to a standard strongly associated with Billie Holiday ("You've Changed"), Brian Wilson's most famous Beach Boys ballad ("God Only Knows") and a Bob Dylan song definitively interpreted by the Band ("I Shall Be Released"), played in memory of the late Levon Helm.
Personnel: Charles Lloyd (tenor and alto saxophones, bass and alto flutes), Jason Moran (piano, tambourine)
Tracklisting
Vladimir Spivakov; Sergej Bezrodny; Alexander Malter; Dietmar Schwalke
Steve Swallow; Michael Rodriguez;Chris Cheek; Steve Cardenas; Gil Goldstein; Adam Nussbaum
Ensemble Modern Orchestra; Rob Rutman; Peter Eotvos
Joe Lovano; Julian Lage; Asante Santi Debriano; Will Calhoun
Tomasz Stanko; Tomasz Szukalski; Dave Holland; Edward Vesala
Bill Connors; Jan Garbarek; Gary Peacock; Jack DeJohnette
Mick Goodrick; Fred Hersch
Judith Berkson; Trevor Dunn; Gerald Cleaver
Trio Ivoire (Hans Ludemann, Aly Keita & Christian Thome)
Oregon
His 'n' Hers (Judith O'Higgins & Dave O'Higgins)
Matthias Bublath
uroboro
Richard Spaven
Jim Snidero
Jeremy Pelt
