Charles Lloyd: 'Figure in Blue'

One of the sayings I can’t seem to avoid when talking about jazz and reviewing new albums or live performances is “standing on the shoulders of giants”, but ‘Figure In Blue’ from the giant Charles Lloyd does more than that.

From the opening interpretation of Abide With Me through this whole collection of new studio recordings with his trio of Jason Moran (piano) and Marvin Sewell (guitar), Lloyd explores some of the music that has inspired him and creates his own. Celebrating the musicians who have inspired him brings real innovation and abiding, beautiful tone and technique.

The first single from the album was released a few weeks ago and this title track sets the scene with its Ellington dedication - Figure In Blue, Memories Of Duke. It is a perfect styling of the trio and when Lloyd steps back to allow the Moran/Sewell duo as in the centre of this tune, they, too, show their brilliance without the leader and front man.

Lloyd and Moran have collaborated for many years, and it shows. Lloyd says: “We arrive at the heart of the matter with very few words.”

Similarly. Sewell melds his guitar into the shared expression of this stunning music. “Marvin has an authentic voice,” says Lloyd. “Marvin grew up in Chicago but has family ties to the Mississippi Delta and knows from first-hand experience the trials and tribulations we experienced on the red clay of the South. You can hear it in his playing.”

If you want to hear the music of the South interpreted by a brilliant 21st century jazz ensemble, go straight to the marvellous Chulahoma - bottleneck guitar in all its glory across Lloyd’s powerful sax.

Then take a listen to The Ghost of Lady Day and hear what Billie Holiday’s voice might have sounded like through a sax. In a post on X to commemorate her birthday in April this year, Lloyd wrote: “Born on this day, the singular Billie Holiday. She filled my childhood dreams with a desire to rescue her from the pain, sorrow, and injustice she was singing about but I couldn't reach the gas pedal yet. She continues to inspire me.”

A huge album in many ways, Figure in Blue feels desperately intimate, with Lloyd’s sax sounding like that of a young man who nevertheless has the experience of an irrelevant number of decades.