Charles Lloyd has long been a free spirit, master musician, and visionary. For more than 6 decades the legendary saxophonist and composer has loomed large over the music world, and at 84 years old he remains at the height of his powers and as prolific as ever. As a sound seeker, Lloyd’s restless creativity has perhaps found no greater manifestation than on his latest masterwork Trio of Trios.

• Vinyl LP in Gatefold Cover
• Third Installment in the Trio of Trios Project
• Supervised by 'Tone Poet' Joe Harley
• Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio
• Pressed at Pallas, Germany

Jazzwise The 20 Best Jazz Albums of 2022 - Rated 18/20!

Charles Lloyd has long been a free spirit, master musician, and visionary. For more than 6 decades the legendary saxophonist and composer has loomed large over the music world, and at 84 years old he remains at the height of his powers and as prolific as ever. As a sound seeker, Lloyd’s restless creativity has perhaps found no greater manifestation than on his latest masterwork Trio of Trios, an expansive project that encompasses three albums, each a deft change of musical context that presents him in a different trio setting.

The third album in the series Trios: Sacred Thread features guitarist Julian Lage and percussionist Zakir Hussain, and was recorded in September 2020 at The Paul Mahder Gallery in Healdsburg, California as a livestream concert for a virtual audience. Past experiences often illuminate the present in Lloyd’ music, for example, the provenance of The Sacred Thread — and the encounters that helped inform it — originated in the late fifties: “When I was studying at the University of Southern California, Ravi Shankar and Alla Rakha used to come around. That’s when I heard the call of Mother India,” he recalls. “Zakir and I played together in concert for the first time in 2001, and it was then I learned Alla Rakha was his father, so it has been like that… connections on a journey. You could call it Providence, I call it a Sacred Thread.”

“I first heard young Julian when he was 12,” Lloyd continues. “He grew up not far from Healdsburg and was known to be a wunderkind — he had big ears and I heard his potential. Twenty years later I invited him to join me – he’s still a young man and his ears have only grown bigger. So — I keep being blessed by souls who find a way to me, it still inspires me to go out on the high wire and try to fly.”

Sacred Thread represents the Trio series' most radical departure from the freeboppish or bluesily grooving soundscapes of its predecessors Chapel, and Ocean – a more open global-musical trip, as well as an homage to Lloyd's decades-long devotion to the spirituality of the East. - John Fordham, Jazzwise, The 20 Best Jazz Albums of 2022

Trios: Sacred Thread is the fitting sendoff volume for the project. Its tunes are wrought with nearly symbiotic aesthetic interplay, spiritual connection, intimacy, and even tenderness. - -Thom Jurek, AllMusic.com, 4/5 stars (The AllMusic 2022 Year in Review - Favorite Jazz Albums)

Musicians:

Charles Lloyd - tenor saxophone, alto flute, tarogato, maracas

Zakir Hussain - tabla, percussion, vocals
Julian Lage - guitar

Track Listing:

A1: Desolation Sound 3:19
A2: Guman 9:24
A3: Nachekita's Lament 1:53
A4: Saraswati 4:12
B1: Kuti 7:53
B2: Tales of Rumi 8:47
B3: The Blessing 3:19

Click here to listen to samples on YouTube.com ♫