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Charles Lloyd: The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow review – sax legend shows no sign of slowing down
The octogenarian joyfully whispers and warbles his way through sublime tone poems, impassioned tributes and traditional spirituals with an all-star band
He once recalled to the Guardian that the free-jazz visionary Coleman had told him in 1956: “Man, you sure can play the saxophone, but that don’t have a lot to do with music.” Lloyd has been searching the world’s songs for the heartfelt secrets beyond technique ever since, and his voice-like sound and intuitive ensemble communion seems to convey more with less with each exquisite new album. Backed by pianist/composer Jason Moran, bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Brian Blade, this set’s beautiful opener Defiant, Tender Warrior builds a bewitching trance from soft piano wavelets, growling bass accents and snare-pattern whispers before Lloyd’s breathy tenor long-tones and enraptured top-end warbles even begin. And UK saxophonist/composer Mark Lockheart, member of the great Loose Tubes orchestra and Polar Bear, introduces a generation-crossing band which includes Empirical saxophonist Nathaniel Facey and trumpeter Laura Jurd, for the lyrical yet exhilaratingly jazz-rockish Smiling(Edition).
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