Trios: Ocean (Live)

Album review

Following on from Trios: Chapel, recorded in 2018 with Bill Frisell and Thomas Morgan, Charles Lloyd presents Trios: Ocean, the second instalment of his ambitious trilogy of trios—and it’s nothing less than a masterpiece! This album was recorded live (without an audience) in September 2020 during a concert in the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara, California in the middle of lockdown. It’s characterised by a perpetual sense of serenity and freedom and serves not only as a profoundly moving ‘snapshot’ of Lloyd at this moment in his life and career, but also as a summary of the subjects of his musical explorations which, for the most part, reacquaint him with the origins of his vocation.

Accompanied this time by Gerald Clayton on piano (his touring companion for almost ten years) and Anthony Wilson on guitar (a subtle musician who’s at ease with all types of Americana and implements a particularly relevant orchestral rendering of his instrument here), Charles Lloyd dives into his instrument with a mixture of voluptuous sensuality and inimitable depth – these four long original compositions are the result. He imbues his sound with plenty of nuance, both in terms of colour and texture, passing from tenor saxophone (‘Lonely One’, ‘Kuan Yin’) to alto flute (‘Jamarillo Blues’) and even alto saxophone (‘Hagar of the Inuits’). Lloyd journeys through familiar territory without ever surrendering to nostalgia or formal revivalism. Whether he’s resurrecting the ghost of Ornette Coleman with his alto phrasing, colouring his improvisations with oriental melismas, or revisiting the Delta blues with the fragile and ethereal sounds of the alto flute, Charles Lloyd never does the same thing twice. Invigorated by his two fellow musicians, his insatiable curiosity is constantly opening up new artistic doors. © Stéphane Ollivier/Qobuz