Lift Every Voice (Charles Lloyd album)

Lift Every Voice
Studio album by Charles Lloyd
Released	October 21, 2002
Recorded	February 2002
Genre	Jazz
Length	130:46
Label	ECM ECM 1832/33
Producer	Charles Lloyd, Dorothy Darr
Charles Lloyd chronology
Hyperion with Higgins (2001) Lift Every Voice (2002) Which Way is East (2004)

Lift Every Voice is an album by jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd, recorded in February 2002 and released on ECM October that same year. The quintet features rhythm section Geri Allen, John Abercrombie, Marc Johnson & Larry Grenadier (alternately) and Billy Hart. ^[1] The album represents Lloyd's response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings	[3]
Tom Hull	B+ ( ) [4]

The album received wide critical acclaim. The AllMusic review by Richard S. Ginell awarded the album 4½ stars and states "The result is one of the most unusual and deeply spiritual recordings in Lloyd's always-unusual career, one that says more with fewer means." ^[2]

The All About Jazz review by Mark Corroto stated "Lloyd’s belief in humanity and reliance on the healing and redemptive qualities of music propels this compassionate recording." ^[5]

Track listing

All compositions by Charles Lloyd except as indicated.

Disc one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Hymn to the Mother"		15:00
2.	"You Are So Beautiful"	Bruce Fisher, Billy Preston	4:05
3.	"Amazing Grace"	John Newton	4:46
4.	"East Virginia, West Memphis"		9:40
5.	"What's Going On"	Renaldo "Obie" Benson, Al Cleveland, Marvin Gaye	5:09
6.	"Angel Oak"		3:35
7.	"Te Amaré"	Silvio Rodríguez	6:49
8.	"I'm Afraid"	Duke Ellington	7:41
9.	"Hafez, Shattered Heart"		4:43

Disc two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Rabo de nube"	Rodríguez	7:07
2.	"Blood Count"	Billy Strayhorn	5:08
3.	"Go Down Moses"	Traditional	10:39
4.	"Beyond Darkness"		7:51
5.	"Nocturne"		6:13
6.	"Wayfaring Stranger"	Traditional	8:40
7.	"Deep River"	Traditional	6:27
8.	"Lift Every Voice and Sing"	James Weldon Johnson, John Rosamond Johnson	3:10
9.	"Prayer, the Crossing"		14:03

Personnel

• Charles Lloyd – tenor saxophone, flute, tarogato
• Geri Allen – piano
• John Abercrombie – guitar
• Marc Johnson – double bass (CD1 #1, 3-7; CD2 #1, 3, 5, 9)
• Larry Grenadier – double bass (CD1 #2, 8; CD2 #2, 4-8)
• Billy Hart – drums

References

1. ECM Records catalogue accessed January 25, 2010.
2. Ginell, R. S. Allmusic Review accessed January 25, 2010.
3. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 802. ISBN   978-0-141-03401-0.
4. Hull, Tom (February 28, 2018). "Streamnotes". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
5. Corroto, M. Lift Every Voice review All about Jazz, November 1, 2002