Sangam & Friends

88歳になった現在もなおシーンの最前線で活躍するジャズ・レジェンド、チャールス・ロイドによる1年ぶりのニュー・アルバム。

本作は、ロイドがザキール・フセイン(tabla)、エリック・ハーランド(ds)とのトリオ編成による「サンガム」で、2009年2月にインドのムンバイにて行ったレコーディングを中心に構成。フセインの父であるアラ・ラカへ捧げるコンサート「アッバジ」に招かれたロイドは、初めて訪れたインドに大きな刺激を受けたという。そのコンサートを終えたロイドは、フセイン、ハーランドと共にムンバイのニルヴァーナ・スタジオでレコーディングを敢行。その後それらの音源は未完成のままだったが、ヴィジャヤ・プラカーシュ(vo)やラケーシュ・チョウラシア(bansuri)など現地の著名なミュージシャンによる録音、そしてカリフォルニア州での追加レコーディングを加え、15年以上の時を経て遂にアルバムとして完成。先行シングル第1弾の「Jai Ganga」は、サンガムの3人のみによるトラックで、明るくリズミカルなサウンド、超絶的なフセインとハーランドと軽やかなロイドのプレイの対比が鮮やかな印象を残す内容となっている。
【パーソネル】Charles Lloyd(ts, as, fl)Vijay Prakash(bansuri) Rakesh Chaurasia(bansuri) Sabir Khan(sarangi) Ranjit Barot(key) Niladri Kumar(sitar) Eric Harland(ds)

Charles Lloyd and Zakir Hussain played together the very first time they met. Just weeks after 9/11, they played a memorial for Lloyds longtime collaborator Billy Higgins at San Franciscos Grace Cathedral. Together with drummer Eric Harland, they formed Sangam, and in 2004 recorded a live performance at the Lobero Theater released as Sangam in 2006 on ECM. In 2009 they played Hussains annual Abbaji concert in honor of his father, percussion master Alla Rakha. The trio was joined on-stage by Rakesh Chaurasia on bansuri; Carnatic singer Vijay Prakash; Sabir Khan on bowed sarangi; Ranjit Barot on keyboard; and Niladri Kumar on sitar and electric sitar -- to build on the ideas that emerged during the concert. Those recordings remained incomplete at the time of Hussains death in December 2024. Lloyd, wishing to pay homage to his friend, collaborated with producer and spouse Dorothy Darr to assemble them alongside unissued Sangam studio and live recordings on Sangam & Friends. Opener "Clear the Dust" finds Lloyd, Khan, and Prakash offering a brief improvised invocation that gives way to the saxophonists glorious 11-minute "The Blessing." His horn, Harlands cymbals, and the bansuri undergird Prakashs classical singing in the intro. Soon sitar and sarangi join the conversation. When the melody emerges, Hussain enters and constructs a labyrinthine rhythmic dialogue with Harland. The traditional "Jai Ganga" is performed by Sangam. Its introduced by Lloyds solo tenor before Hussains roiling tabla and Harlands skittering kit work and snare/hi-hat breaks create a conversation. Lloyds flute replaces the sax for a time, going head to head with the frenetic yet hypnotic tablas as Harland surrounds them with nearly funky interplay; Lloyd brings back the tenor to close. The trio also played on "Tagore," an unissued selection from the 2006 Lobero concert. Lloyds flute playing is at its most lyrical here as the drummers dialogue with one another while accenting his lines. The original trio joins forces on "Bharati’s Dance, Tempo Divine." The eight-minute track finds the space where Eastern and Western traditions dissolve and emerge as something wholly other, as blues, raga, and modal jazz entwine in a new sound. Barots keyboard provides an opening drone for "Eternal Dreamer." Lloyds horn, Chaurasias bansuri flute, and Khans bowed sarangi join as Barot slowly unfolds a chord progression. Tenor sax, vocals, bansuri, tabla, and sarangi offer a slowly unfolding improvisation that is soon joined by a bluesy electric sitar. Its meditative throughout, even when Lloyd ratchets the intensity; it is one of the sets finest moments. Closer "Sam on the Ganges" finds the septet revisiting and reimagining the saxophonists classic "Sombrero Sam." Here, post-bop, Carnatic tradition, syncopation, and group improv commingle and collide, as tabla, electric sitar, sarangi, bansuri, and tenor find space to expand inside the deep blues melody. Sangam & Friends is not only a fitting tribute to Hussain, its a startling, intimate conversation between traditions and a welcome addition to Sangams catalog. ~ Thom Jurek