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

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

v t e Charles Lloyd
Years given are for the recording(s), not first release, unless stated otherwise.
As leader or co-leader	Nirvana (1962–65) Discovery! (1964) Of Course, of Course (1965) Charles Lloyd in Europe (1966) Dream Weaver (1966) Forest Flower (1966) The Flowering (1966) Charles Lloyd in the Soviet Union (1967) Journey Within (1967) Love-In (1967) Soundtrack (1968) Moon Man (1970) Warm Waters (1971) Geeta (1973) Autumn in New York (1979) Montreux 82 (1982) A Night in Copenhagen (1983) Fish Out of Water (1989) Notes from Big Sur (1991) Acoustic Masters I (1993) The Call (1993) All My Relations (1994) Canto (1996) Voice in the Night (1998) Hyperion with Higgins (1999) The Water Is Wide (1999) Which Way Is East (2001) Lift Every Voice (2002) Jumping the Creek (2004) Sangam (2004) Rabo de Nube (2007) Mirror (2009) Athens Concert (and Maria Farantouri, 2010) Hagar's Song (and Jason Moran, 2012) Wild Man Dance (2013) I Long to See You (2015) Passin' Thru (2016) 8: Kindred Spirits (Live from the Lobero) (2020) Tone Poem (2021)
With Cannonball Adderley	Cannonball Adderley's Fiddler on the Roof (1964) Cannonball Adderley Live! (1964) Radio Nights (1967–68)
With Chico Hamilton	Bye Bye Birdie-Irma La Douce (1960) The Chico Hamilton Special (1960) Drumfusion (1962) Passin' Thru (1962) A Different Journey (1963) Man from Two Worlds (1963) Chic Chic Chico (1965)
With The Beach Boys	Surf's Up (released 1971) Holland (1972) 15 Big Ones (released 1976) M.I.U. Album (released 1978)
With others	Historical Figures and Ancient Heads (Canned Heat, 1971) Almost Summer (Celebration, released 1978) Celebration (Celebration, released 1979) Les McCann Sings (1961) Roger McGuinn (1973) Full Circle (The Doors, 1972) Vanished Gardens (2018)

v t e Geri Allen
Years given are for the recording(s), not first release, except where noted.
Albums as leader or co-leader	The Printmakers (1984) Home Grown (1985) Open on All Sides in the Middle (1986) In the Year of the Dragon (1989) Segments (1989) Twylight (1989) Live at the Village Vanguard (1990) The Nurturer (1990) Maroons (1992) Twenty One (1994) Eyes in the Back of Your Head (1995–96) Some Aspects of Water (1996) The Gathering (1998) The Life of a Song (2004) Timeless Portraits and Dreams (2006) Flying Toward the Sound (2008) Geri Allen & Timeline Live (2009) A Child Is Born (2011) Grand River Crossings (2012) A Lovesome Thing (2012)
With Oliver Lake	Expandable Language (1984) Otherside (1988) Talkin' Stick (1997) At This Time (2008)
With others	Movies (Franco Ambrosetti, 1986) Movies Too (Franco Ambrosetti, 1988) The Collective (Cecil Brooks III, 1989) Duet in Detroit (Roy Brooks, 1989) Droppin' Things (Betty Carter, 1990) Feed the Fire (Betty Carter, 1993) Sound Museum: Hidden Man (Ornette Coleman, 1996) Sound Museum: Three Women (Ornette Coleman, 1996) Motherland Pulse (Steve Coleman, 1985) Flute Talk (Buddy Collette, 1988) Etudes (Charlie Haden, 1987) The Montreal Tapes: with Geri Allen and Paul Motian (Charlie Haden, 1989) The Montreal Tapes: Liberation Music Orchestra (Charlie Haden, 1989) Reflections in Change (Craig Handy, 1999) Lift Every Voice (Charles Lloyd, 2002) Jumping the Creek (Charles Lloyd, 2004) Decision in Paradise (Frank Lowe, 1984) Monk in Motian (Paul Motian, 1988) Mindgames (Greg Osby, 1988) Living on the Edge (Dewey Redman, 1989) Crunchin' (Wallace Roney, 1993) Munchin' (Wallace Roney, 1993) Bemsha Swing (Woody Shaw, 1986) By Any Means Necessary (Gary Thomas, 1989)