There were probably at least a few people who thought that NEA Jazz Master Charles Lloyd’s 2024 double LP The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow might be his last comprehensive work. Yet, the sound searcher, 87-year-old Lloyd, shows no signs of slowing down in terms of recording or touring. He returns with another double-LP, Figure in Blue, an even more definitive statement, like a musical memoir, that cites the many influences that have shaped him. Working with longtime collaborators, pianist Jason Moran and guitarist Marvin Sewell, Lloyd harkens to his formative years in Memphis, playing alongside B.B. King and Howlin’ Wolf, pays homage to the late tabla master Zakir Hussain from Lloyd’s trio Sangam, honors his Choctaw heritage, and pays his respects to Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday. It’s a reflection on the important musical touchstones that have defined his life through original music, refurbished older works, and more than a few surprises.
Consider that Lloyd is nearing his tenth decade, yet his tone and technique remain stoutly solid, and he can be intensely emotive even when delivering meditative fare. Lloyd has worked in a saxophone-piano-guitar trio before on Ocean, with fellow Californians pianist Gerald Clayton and guitarist Anthony Wilson. Lloyd has played live with Clayton and Sewell in the trio format, but this trio’s defining characteristic is a deep feel for the blues. Moran grew up in Houston, and Sewell grew up in Chicago with a family that has ties to the Mississippi Delta.
So, the stripped-down trio sound is not new for Lloyd., He issued the trilogy Trio of Trios in 2022. It’s these shared Southern roots that lead to an incomparable empathy in approach, knowing when to play and when to listen. Space is the fourth partner: the patience and unhurried aspect of these renderings stands out. Blues masters such as B.B. King have long emphasized the right notes over many notes. That’s at play here; the blues tracks are arguably the most compelling aspect of this project.
Sewell’s wildly expressive bottleneck guitar leads into “Blues for Langston,” running over three minutes until Lloyd joins on his trademark alto flute, while Moran mostly lays out until the last section, when he hits chords complementary to Sewell’s, the trio locking into a strutting groove. “Chulahoma” also features a stirring bottleneck intro from Sewell. Lloyd plays percussion, but when he joins on tenor, he is locked into unison lines with Sewell, in perhaps the most bluesy offering heard from Lloyd since his live take playing with Booker T. on the live album, 2018’s 8: Kindred Spirits, Live from the Lobero.
Yet, there are far more aspects to Lloyd’s artistry in this set. He begins with the reflective Christian Hymn, “Abide With Me,” a tune he has often played in other settings, but perhaps most quietly intense here, with Moran’s understated yet sparking piano. “Hina Hanta, the way of peace” is a gorgeous, older Broadway ballad with Choctaw origins. As such, Lloyd pays tribute to his great-grandmother, Sallie Sunflower Whitecloud, saying, “She has shown me a path that is in a fragile balance and must be respected. I have her songs in my heart.” Sewell’s picking is conventional without the slide, and equally as bluesy.
The album’s title invokes Ellington with the titular track “Figure in Blue, memories of Duke.” Lloyd knew Duke because his mother ran a boarding house for touring musicians, and the Duke gave Lloyd many encouraging words when the two were together at the Antibes festival in France in 1966. Moran has deep knowledge of Ellington’s songbook, too, and careful listening will reveal quotes of Ellington’s material. The trio also honors Ellington in the iconic composer’s “Black Butterfly” and “Heaven.”
“Hymn to the Mother, for Zakir” is a stirring, atmospheric tribute to Zakir Hussain, with Sewell conjuring Indian strains from his guitar, while Lloyd’s soft blowing melds into those tones with Moran’s simpatico piano to create a poignant, mesmerizing effect. Every song tells a story, from the solemn ode to Lloyd’s boyhood infatuation with Billie Holiday, relating to her pain and loneliness in “The Ghost of Lady Day.” The brief but chillingly effective strains of “Ancient Rain” also owe to his Choctaw heritage. Countless artists have covered the closer, “Somewhere,” from West Side Story, but few, if any, with the deep feeling Lloyd imparts on the melody.
The living legend and spiritual force, Charles Lloyd, continues to break new ground.
