Sangam

This 2004 live recording is a miraculous first-time meeting of reedist Charles Lloyd, his quartet drummer Eric Harland, and tabla master Zakir Hussain. The three convened to pay tribute to drummer Billy Higgins, who’d recorded and played with Lloyd in a variety of settings over the years before passing in 2001. Lloyd occasionally explored Asian influences before this one (most notably Which Way Is East with Higgins), and here the vernacular goes in that direction. Hussain's fluid playing is ostensibly the reason, but the restless Harland rarely settles into a steady jazz beat. With Lloyd on saxophones, flutes, and taragato, the songs range from earthy blues to Middle Eastern melodies to ecstatic jazz to long tones. Things move along briskly on “Tales of Rumi” and “Hymne to the Mother” but are more meditative on Hussain’s “Guman” and “Nataraj,” which has Lloyd on piano. The music here flows; occasional audience applause breaks the spell, but never for long as the magic starts again.