In his sleeve notes for
The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow
,
Charles Lloyd
reflects on himself as a naive young man who thought he could replace the world's ugliness with beauty and his generation's unrealized hope to "right the ship" through action, creation, and empathy. Almost discouraged by the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020s state of the world, he assembled this quartet "... to make an offering of tenderness...." Pianist
Jason Moran
and bassist
Larry Grenadier
have worked (separately) with
Lloyd
before. He has known drummer
Brian Blade
for years but hadn't worked with him.
is
's 11th
Blue Note
album, and was released on his 86th birthday. Its two discs contain six unreleased compositions, seven revisioned catalog selections, and new readings of two traditional songs.
It is bookended with the quietly stunning "Defiant, Tender Warrior." Introduced by rumbling tom-toms and a triadic vamp from
Moran
Grenadier
frames the changes before
enters, offering a languid melody he improvises on at every turn, as the trio plays mantra-like behind him. As the tension gently builds,
solos and searches, finding aesthetic and spiritual connection with his mates while
elegantly builds out the harmonic ledge. "The Lonely One, originally on 2022's
Trios: Ocean
, retains its lyric core, though here it's more exploratory. On "Monk's Dance," the pianist accesses
Fats Waller
Jelly Roll Morton
, and
Ben Bernie & His Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra
-referencing "Sweet Georgia Brown" as
engages him in buoyant conversation. He plays flute on "Booker's Garden," a gorgeous modal blues for friend and fellow Memphian
Booker Little
. Led by
, "Ghost of Lady Day" is a spacious, inquisitive meditation on the "sound" of the singer who deeply moved the young
while listening to late-night jazz radio. The emotional title track commences with rugged group conversation using post-bop until
drops a blues vamp on the band.
, accompanied by
Blade
and
, solos, weaving smooth blues and gospel lines with West Coast jazz accents.
reworks "Beyond Darkness" on flute to gently explore chamber jazz with the quartet.
's solo is at once incisive and quite intuitive. Folk standards "Balm in Gilead" and "Lift Every Voice and Sing" are sequenced together, followed directly by "When the Sun Comes Up, The Darkness Is Gone." Each song combines deep listening with confident group improv while remaining faithful to the lyric melody inherent in each.
resurrects "Cape to Cairo" from 1995's
All My Relations
. Its sparse intro, asserted by the saxophonist's tenor and
's elliptical accents, frames
's rolling toms and
's rich, woody tone. Closer "Defiant, Reprise; Homeward Dove" joins the gentle, folk-like melody to a circular, minor-key modal ballad while gently invoking the exploratory spirits of
Pharoah Sanders
Jim Pepper
.
has released a large catalog filled of truly fine recordings.
stands as one of his best late-career master works. ~ Thom Jurek