September 19, 2025
On Oct. 10, jazz legend Charles Lloyd will release his latest musical offering, Figure In Blue, a spacious double album featuring the great saxophonist in the company of a new trio with pianist Jason Moran and guitarist Marvin Sewell. Lloyd’s 12th Blue Note album travels wide expanses of musical terrain from beautiful ballads to raw Delta blues and includes heartfelt homages to Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, and Zakir Hussain, who is honored with the transcendent new single “Hymn To The Mother, for Zakir” out today.
Throughout a program of new original music, reinvigorated older works, and other choice selections, Lloyd pays tribute to the musicians and influences that have shaped him on Figure In Blue. The result is one of the most musically stunning and personally meaningful recordings of his career. In it, you can hear a kind of memoir unfold at the same time the saxophonist puts forth a candid document of his undiminished strength. As he nears his tenth decade, his tone and technique are, as ever, equally mighty and ethereal, delivering startling intensity even in moments of meditative quiet.
Every track on the album relates a rich story, perhaps none more poignant than “Hymn To The Mother, for Zakir,” a celestial, atmospheric tribute to Hussain, who died last year. The tabla virtuoso was a longtime collaborator of Lloyd’s in the acclaimed trio Sangam which also included drummer Eric Harland.
“‘Hymn To The Mother’ is a piece I have been performing for many decades now — and had performed at every concert with Zakir. When we went into the studio, losing him was still very fresh. I wanted to start the recording session with an offering to him,” says Lloyd. “I miss everything about Zakir: his friendship, his humanity, his humor, his deep understanding of the whole thing. He was a deeply spiritual Being.”
