Mirror - the call for some tenderness…

Charles Lloyd’s new album is a "need and the call for some tenderness…

The ambience and the material -- a collection of Lloyd originals, a few spirituals such as "Go Down Moses" and "The Water Is Wide," and a smattering of cover tunes (by Thelonious Monk and the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson) -- are similar to two other landmark Lloyd albums: 2000's "The Water Is Wide," a joint project with his dying friend, drummer Billy Higgins, and 2002's "Lift Every Voice," a response to the 9/11 tragedy.

The thread that connects them is "the need and the call for some tenderness," said Lloyd. But what really elevates "Mirror" is the exquisite synergy of his latest quartet, which might be the best working ensemble of his long career.

Click here for the full review of Mirror at The Star Tribune.