Hyperion With Higgins features more music from the December 1999 sessions that led to Lloyd's previous ECM release, The Water Is Wide, and it's in large part a tribute to the great, late drummer Billy Higgins. Besides Lloyd and Higgins, the album features John Abercombie (electric guitar), Brad Mehldau (piano), and Larry Grenadier (double-bass). All eight compositions, including the five-part "Darkness on the Delta," in which Abercrombie offers solo tribute to country blues master Robert Johnson, are by the saxophonist. They reveal his trademark ability to move convincingly between passages of intense ad lib reflection and triplet-based swing, and the concluding "The Caravan Moves On" is the clearest example of the Near-Eastern inclinations that often surface in his work. If Lloyd's spiritually charged tone remains his own throughout, there are occasions when the aura of Getz at his most Brazilian comes to mind, as in the opening "Dancing Waters," as well as that of Coltrane at his most ritualistic--especially evident in the rubato power of "Miss Jessye." Throughout, Higgins is excellent, whether supplying the most feathery of cymbal touches or offering variously textured and stomping drive. Abercrombie, Mehldau, and Grenadier all have their moments, but the album is chiefly notable for the compositions of Lloyd and the multidimensional work of its late and lamented drummer, one of the finest musicians in all of jazz
CONDITION: NEW
TRACK LISTING
Dancing Waters, Big Sur To Bahia 5:51
Bharati 6:59
Secret Life Of The Forbidden City 10:03
Miss Jessye 10:21
Hyperion With Higgins 7:19
Darkness On The Delta Suite 12:39
Mother Where Art Thou
Robert Johnson On The Banks Of The Ganges
Perseverance
Till The River Runs Free
Peace In The Storm
Dervish On The Glory B 8:23
The Caravan Moves On 8:32
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