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Unsettled by the state of the world in 2020, Charles Lloyd began conceiving of a musical offering in the form of a new studio recording featuring a new band, a quartet that would be a first-time convening of four distinctive voices with the legendary saxophonist joined by pianist Jason Moran, bassist Larry Grenadier, and drummer Brian Blade. In Spring 2023, around Lloyd’s 85th birthday, the project at long last flowered with the creation of an expansive double album titled “The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow.” A majestic body of work that finds one of the most significant musicians of the 20th and 21st centuries still at the peak of his powers, the album presents a collection of Lloyd originals new, old, and reimagined.
Pianist/composer Vijay Iyer follows his 2021 ECM disc “Uneasy”—the first to showcase his trio featuring bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey—with “Compassion,” another album in league with these two gifted partners. The New York Times captured the special qualities of this group, pointing to the trio’s flair for playing “with a lithe range of motion and resplendent clarity…while stoking a kind of writhing internal tension. Crucial to that balance is the ability to connect with each other almost telepathically.” The disc is Vijay’s eighth for ECM and continues his drive to explore fresh territory while also referencing his forbearers along the way.
Also this week, Danish drummer, composer and arranger Snorre Kirk reveals both an Ellington and Basie influence in his originals on “Top Dog”; two of the world’s foremost bassists, Christian McBride and Edgar Meyer, come together on a new collaboration, “But Who’s Gonna Play the Melody?”; and Chicago-based guitarist and composer Neal Alger, well-known for his stylistic breadth and musical intuition through his frequent collaborations with Patricia Barber and countless other artists, offers up a rich and varied selection of his own compositions on “Old Souls.”
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