On
Charles Lloyd & the Marvels 2016 debut,
I Long to See You, the ensemble -- the saxophonist's rhythm section, drummer
Eric Harland and bassist
Reuben Rogers, and guitarists
Bill Frisell and
Greg Leisz -- delivered an honorable but overly deferential outing that somewhat belied the promise of its personnel. On
Vanished Gardens,
the Marvels leave deference in the dustbin. Here, with the assistance of
Lucinda Williams, they create a music that draws on the sum total of experience and shared emotion.
Lloyd,
Frisell, and
Leisz have all worked with rockers and country and blues players, while
Harland and
Rogers are jazz modernists rooted in tradition. The addition of
Williams on four of her own tunes and a cover of
Jimi Hendrix's "Angel" transforms this band into a genre-blurring ensemble whose abilities mine the jazz and Americana traditions to redefine them in the new century.
"Defiant" commences as an extended showcase for
Lloyd's modal and melodic soloing with loping pedal steel inside a 4/4 shuffle with
Frisell's lonesome, lyrical playing.
Williams enters on "Dust." The song originally appeared on 2016's
Ghosts of Highway 20. In waltz time,
Frisell's rockist power chords and
Leisz's lap steel wails meet
Lloyd's swirling, loping tenor that offers blues vamps amid post-bop swells to frame
Williams' haunted, grainy vocal as she sings: "You couldn't cry if you wanted to/Even your thoughts are dust," before erupting in a post-
Coltrane solo with
Frisell climbing behind him. The title track, with its skittering rhythms, wavelike pedal steel passes, and matched solos by
Frisell and
Lloyd, is a bluesy exercise in improvisation. The arrangement in
Williams' "Ventura," (that appeared on
West), remains startlingly close to that of the original, but
Lloyd's soulful phrasing undergirds her singing with a particularly Southern grace. The inclusion of the standard "Ballad of the Sad Young Men" feels like an outlier. It's a skeletal, impressionistic ballad that lacks an anchoring center, it simply hovers and floats. Not so with the singer's raggedy gospel in "We've Come Too Far to Turn Around," where the weariness in the lyric meets the band's ability to braid
Williams' voice with an emotional color palette that matches her own. The 11-plus-minute reading of her "Unsuffer Me" is the perfect meld of rock, blues, and modern post-bop jazz as both guitarists engage one another and
Lloyd, who serves as the bridge between them and the singer with squeals, blurts, and flutters with his moaning horn. "Monk's Mood" is lovely, but only because of
Lloyd's playing. The closing
Hendrix cover is presented as a country-gospel meditation on love and eternity.
Williams treats the tune as if it were her own;
Frisell and
Leisz surround her in soft, luxuriant textures as
Lloyd accompanies her in a kind of spacy, hooky duet. Interestingly, the uneven moments on
Vanished Gardens have more to do with
the Marvels' reticence on the standards. Otherwise, the pairing of this band with
Williams sounds natural, effortless, and holistic. There's definitely room for a sequel. ~ Thom Jurek
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