Finally, in a year when the usual seasonal music sounds like such an insult to what we actually feel, comes the perfect dose of dignity and hope.
"Sacred Thread" represents the final installment of wind great Charles Lloyd's superb "Trio of Trios" series, which has previously showcased the talents of Bill Frisell, Thomas Morgan, Gerald Clayton and Anthony Wilson. Now well into his 80s, Lloyd continues to deliver at the same astonishing level of invention and sensitivity on tenor, flute and tarogato, acknowledging our world-weary sadness while bracing us with beauty. In every moment of this sometimes ecstatic though rarely cheerful expression, he spreads grace. For those who want to gain perspective on the trios we're used to -- the Holy Family, the Holy Trinity, perhaps the Axis of Evil -- and think more in terms of Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva and the pyramids and the Pythagorean Theorem, this is a gift of three magi.
Zakir Hussain represents our most immediate connection to ancient transcendence. Via the inevitable strokes of his hand drums, via the atmospheric shakers he administers with ceremonial precision, and especially via his singing, reminiscent of a woman in mourning, Hussain ushers us into a prayerful tradition dating back through thousands of years of weddings, funerals, healings and emergency consultations with the Divine. He is a warm ghost.
"Thread" spins through several moods, and Lloyd enjoys breathing them all; whether carrying on a happy flute conversation with Hussain on "Kuti," embodying a tenor dervish on "Tales of Rumi" or venturing into romantic Ellington/Eckstine territory on the opening "Desolation Sound," he falls on our ears like snowflakes.
And Julian Lage is an electric-guitar orchestra who can respond in a nanosecond. Imagine someone who plays rhythm and lead at the same time, imparting fatherly caresses on every single note/chord and conjuring logical but unexpected melodic twists out of nowhere. His strings sing like wires, tangling and untangling, as on his exquisite solo on "Nachakita's Lament." At last, on "A Blessing," ponder Lloyd's tenor engaged in an emotional struggle, rising above it, then passing the torch in silence to Lage -- what the guitarist makes of the transition could make a Putin cry. (Lage turns 35 on December 25.)
The sacred thread represents a garment a young initiate puts on when entering a higher level of Hindu teaching. Sometimes it is worn at a sacrifice.
Happy solstice.
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The three "Trio of Trios" recordings can be purchased in a boxed set of vinyl LPs.