2008 · Album
Rabo de Nube
Recorded April 27, 2007, Basel · ECM · Personnel: Charles Lloyd (tenor saxophone), Jason Moran (piano), Reuben Rogers (bass), Eric Harland (drums)
Lloyd's Basel Quartet Stretches and Bends
Lloyd shows no signs of slowing down, embracing tradition while willing to stretch it every which way.
On April 27, 2007, Charles Lloyd brought his quartet into a concert hall in Basel to play live. With him were Jason Moran on piano, Reuben Rogers on bass, and Eric Harland on drums. This was not a studio session with the luxury of multiple takes—what happened in that room that night, unedited and immediate, is what you hear on Rabo de Nube (2008).
Lloyd and this band had developed a rapport that allowed real freedom. Moran's playing here ranges from crystalline single-note lines to dense harmonic clusters, never settling into one mood. Rogers and Harland lock in tight but leave space for Lloyd's tenor saxophone to roam—he's not leading a backing band, he's conversing with equals. Some tunes are recognizable standards that Lloyd has played before, but the arrangements shift them sideways. The band takes different harmonic turns, alters the tempos, strips things down or expands them based on what feels right in the moment.
ECM released this in 2008 to strong response. AllMusic reviewer Thom Jurek gave it four stars, calling it "yet another essential Lloyd offering" and noting Lloyd's willingness to stretch tradition without breaking it. For listeners who know Lloyd's ECM catalog, this captures him in a band operating at full creative confidence—not polite or retrospective, but genuinely investigating what these tunes could become.
