Los Angeles Jazz Scene Magazine (USA) on the Mark Lotz Trio CD release ‘ Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out!’
By Scott Yanow

“Although its title might lead one to think that this is an album of rock warhorses from the late 1960s or some variation of acid jazz, Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out is actually a set of post- bop originals played by an intimate jazz trio.

            There are not that many recordings by a flute-bass-drums trio but this outing works quite well. Mark Lotz, who was raised in Thailand, Uganda and Germany and is based in Europe, is one of the world’s top jazz flute players. While he has performed with Don Byron, Chris Potter, and Han Bennink, he has mostly been heard as a leader, heading at least 19 CDs, mostly for European labels.

            His latest CD teams Lotz with bassist Zack Lober and drummer Jamie Peet on a set of the flutist’s ten originals. The brief liner notes say that eight of the pieces were inspired by Timothy Leary’s eight-circuit model of consciousness. While it is difficult to find much of a connection between this music and Leary’s experiments with LSD, Lotz’s originals do cover a variety of moods and grooves including straight ahead playing and the occasional utilization of vamps.

            More significant than the Leary connection is that Lotz displays both creativity and virtuosic technique on his concert, alto and bass flutes, Lober and Peet listen closely and react instantly to his ideas while supplying some of their own (Lober’s solos are thoughtful and inventive), and the music has more variety than one might expect with its sparse instrumentation.

            Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out is a stimulating set well worth checking out.”