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,
Lloyd 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
Lloyd engage its relaxed, syncopated melody even more slowly than on the original.
Lloyd's solo underscores the Middle Eastern modalism in
Coleman's tags as the string players extrapolate on the blues. On "Ramblin',"
Leisz's pedal steel choogles, emulating a train (perhaps the Midnight Flyer out of
Lloyd's native Memphis). The saxophonist adds a few notes from American folk song "Shortnin' Bread" before grabbing on to
Coleman's mutant bop head.
Frisell's playing is all sparking blues and shuffling alongside
Leisz'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,
Lloyd 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
Frisell paints the margins with
Harland,
Leisz, and
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
Frisell's comping keeps it earthbound. "Ay Amor" is a reinvention of Cuban singer, songwriter, and pianist Ignacio Jacinto Villa Fernández (aka
Bola de Nieve).
Lloyd and company render it with breezy elegance, poignant emotion, and deep respect. Both
Gábor Szabó's "Lady Gabor" and
Lloyd'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
Frisell's biting garagey psychedelia. "Prayer" commences as a spectral ballad featuring
Rogers' glorious arco playing before
Lloyd's tenor carries it outside briefly to the tumult that exists beyond the margin.
Frisell's shard-like chords and
Leisz's atmospherics frame
Harland'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,
Tone Poem is perhaps more resonant given its consummate musicality and masterful tune curation. ~ Thom Jurek