In the liner notes of the album The Sky Will Be There Tomorrow, saxophonist Charles Lloyd reminisces about his childhood in Memphis. With the radio under his pillow, he listened to
Billie Holiday, whose beautiful voice made him forget for a moment the pervasive racism in America's southern states. As soon as he could, he moved to Los Angeles, but he never completely fled racism. It was precisely
… these unpleasant aspects of society that Lloyd saw as motivation to make beautiful music. The now 86-year-old jazz musician calls it somewhat naive, in retrospect, to think that he could make the world a little more beautiful with the beauty of his music, but many jazz lovers will disagree. In 2020, when racism was once again in the spotlight in the United States (and the rest of the world) because of the murder of George Floyd, Lloyd felt the same impulse as in his youth. He approached pianist Jason Moran, bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Brian Blade. With them he recorded an ear-pleasing double album, which - if only a drop in the bucket - lets the listener forget for a moment all the ugliness in the world. (JV)more
