Charles Lloyd Quartet – Mirror

Charles Lloyd Quartet’s tasteful, elegant Mirror kicks off with a lush, tender ballad “I Fall in Love Too Easily.” Charles Lloyd begins with a soulful solo on the saxophone with the subtle supportive of Reuben Rogers’s bass and Jason Moran’s piano. Moran’s solo is compact and filled with angularities. In the follow-up “Go Down Moses,” Eric Harland’s drums provide Mr. Lloyd a pulsating, energizing rhythm to lay down his spiritual sound. Whether covering the Beach Boys’ “Caroline, No.” or revisiting Thelonious Monk standards (“Monk’s Mood” and “Ruby, My Dear”) or playing his own originals ( “Desolation Sound”, “Mirror”, “Tagi” and “Being and Becoming”), Mr. Lloyd sounds rejuvenating with his young stars. Mirror shows the beauty of understatement as well as the power in restraint.