Miller, Lloyd and The Heliocentrics – “Lloyd Miller & The Heliocentrics” – [Strut]

Sir Cumference   10/6/2010   CD, Jazz

If you’re looking for difficult jazz, you may want go somewhere else. This collaboration – between UK jazz collective the Heliocentrics and multi-ethnic-instrumentalist jazz pioneer Lloyd Miller – isn’t at all difficult, or challenging, to listen to. At times it feels like a standard western jazz recording that could easily have come out of the ’50s and ’60s, but then easily switches to eastern infused arrangements – which isn’t surprising considering Lloyd Miller’s 60-year history in the industry, and his love of Eastern music traditions. Lloyd even raps (in the classical sense, not in the bust-a-rhyme sense) over the track appropriately named “Lloyd Lets Loose”. An enjoyable release, that should easily find a home on most shows.