CHARLES LLOYD - Trios : Ocean (2020) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Ocean is the second volume in saxophonist Charles Lloyd's 2022 Trios series, all recorded with different personnel. This one finds Anthony Wilson on guitar and Gerald Clayton on piano. Both men are members of his Kindred Spirits ensemble. The set was livestreamed during the pandemic on September 9, 2020 from the stage of the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara, California sans audience. Lloyd has spent his career integrating jazz, blues, and American styles with the music of other global traditions. One of his qualities is that no matter how far afield he travels, his clear, emotive tone keeps the music, no matter how exotic, readily and honestly accessible.

There are four long tunes here, all originals by Lloyd. Opener "The Lonely One" commences with spectral resonance as the tenor emits long breathy notes, Clayton builds sparse minor shapes as Wilson delivers soft, flamenco-esque arpeggios. After two minutes, Lloyd's horn introduces another theme that winds around the guitar as Clayton flows purposefully and distinctly around them with a deeply inquisitive solo. Moods and dynamics shift, shorter accents and solos emerge and retreat, and the band gels around Lloyd's mysterious, Latin-tinged modal assertions. The saxophonist pulls out his mostly neglected alto in "Hagar of the Inuits." He improvises solo for a couple of minutes before a call-and-response exchange with Clayton -- whose knotty chords deliberately draw on Monk -- before Lloyd quotes briefly from John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" and Wilson slips in spiky blues runs dictating the pianist's shift to a 21st century take on boogie woogie. "Jaramillo Blues (For Virginia Jaramillo and Danny Johnson)" was composed for two artists -- she's a painter,he's a sculptor. Lloyd leads this swinging 12-bar blues with the flute. Wilson's chordal vamps bridge Clayton's rhythmic keyboard. It's bright, with lots of subtle movement and tonal shading underneath. The sequential exchanges and turnarounds between pianist and guitarist are canny. Wilson's massive wall of shapes offers abundant textural support for Clayton's punchy, walking chordal solo. He seamlessly shifts to comping as the guitarist offers an elegantly articulated solo that touches on the jazz guitar's history from Charlie Christian to T-Bone Walker to Jim Hall. Lloyd rejoins for the last few minutes as the conversation becomes sprightly and jovial. Closer "Kuan Yin" is titled for the Chinese goddess of mercy and compassion -- she is known as Tara in Tibetan Buddhism. Clayton introduces it by playing percussively, dampening the lower strings from inside the piano. He follows by establishing a minor-key rhumba rhythm with Wilson before Lloyd tentatively introduces the melody. Before long, he ratchets its intensity as the pianist cascades single-note runs and illustrative chords with colorful, gorgeously toned rhythmic articulation from the guitarist. Behind Lloyd they build to a dynamic group crescendo before whispering to a fade. Ocean offers a document of spontaneously created music-making of a very high order. A snapshot of a moment in time, the energy, creativity, and surprise offered here are a delight.
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Tracklist :
1    The Lonely One    12:18
2    Hagar Of The Inuits    8:53
3    Jaramillo Blues (For Virginia Jaramillo And Danny Johnson)    10:03
4    Kuan Yin    10:07
Credits :
Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Alto Flute – Charles Lloyd
Artwork [Cover], Photography By, Design – Dorothy Darr
Guitar – Anthony Wilson
Piano – Gerald Clayton
Written-By [All Songs Written By] – Charles Lloyd