Mick Jagger is 82; Martha Argerich is 84; Charles Lloyd is 87. It must be both awe-inspiring and mildly frustrating for any young hotshot embarking on a music career that so many greats in diverse fields are still hogging the limelight deep into their bus pass years.
But while Jagger sells an implausible notion of youthful invincibility, Charles Lloyd is creating some of his greatest albums with music that fully acknowledges the trials and triumphs of a long life. At times he also seems to be surveying what lies ahead. As the saxophonist has reflected: “I am in the last stages of the journey now.”
Figure in Blue, like his Trio of Trios sets of 2022, is, yes, a three-man recording, with two regular associates, guitarist Marvin Sewell and pianist Jason Moran. The double album ranges from ballads to blues with revisited Lloyd tunes amid the new material. The title track is a homage to Duke Ellington – a gentle samba that swells and subsides – and two Ellington pieces, Heaven and Black Butterfly, are elegantly covered.
Moran is author of one of my favourite quotes about the art of accompaniment: “I like to let the soloist lean on the wall and then take the wall away and watch them fall – and then catch them. When music feels like that, no one can take their ears off.”
In truth though, Figure in Blue is not about soloists and support – more a mingling of three voices each given an equal hearing.
After a brief, reverent account of “Abide With Me”, Lloyd stretches out on “Hinta Hanta”, his long, meditative notes mixed with those wispy runs that trail off like smoke. Moran and Sewell solo discreetly; it’s an intimate conversation where no one raises his voice. Their account of “Desolation Sound” – last heard with Julian Lage and Zakir Hussain – is similarly hushed, incorporating that mix of insight and innocence that Lloyd’s music seems to encapsulate.
A ten-minute piece that sounds like a first-take, spontaneous composition is called – what else? – “Ruminations”. It’s a slow-motion, three-way dance of gently shifting tones and textures. Lloyd’s “Hymn to the Mother” is reprised, this time without the insistent pulse of a percussionist. Over shimmering pedal steel a hypnotic mood painting emerges.
Only when Sewell takes to his bottleneck guitar for some trenchant blues on “Chulahoma” and “Blues for Langston” does the volume rise. The latter blossoms into down-home boogie with Lloyd’s breathy flute taking flight from the familiar melody. Moran adds gospel-ish commentary.
As the mood quietens again, on “Ancient Rain” Lloyd solos mournfully on his Hungarian tárogató and the set ends with “Somewhere” from West Side Story – hard to imagine a more tender instrumental take.
Altogether, Figure in Blue is further evidence of Lloyd’s late-period majesty. Is it a record of the year? Not quite, there’s a uniformity of meditative mood that threatens to become repetitive. Lloyd has travelled these roads before – and nothing is quite as perfect as “Defiant, Tender Warrior” on 2023’s The Sky Will Be There Tomorrow. Still, Figure in Blue maintains a dauntingly high bar for any young sax tyro coming into the game.
Tracklist:
1. Abide With Me
2. Hina, Hanta, the way of peace
3. Figure In Blue, memories of Duke
4. Desolation Sound
5. Ruminations
6. Chulahoma
7. Song My Lady Sings
8. The Ghost of Lady Day
9. Blues for Langston
10. Heaven
11. Black Butterfly
12. Ancient Rain
13. Hymn To The Mother, for Zakir
14. Somewhere
Release Date 10 October 2025. Recorded Available as 2 CDs, 2 LPs or Digital
