Charles Lloyd, photo by D Darr

Charles Lloyd honors Zakir Hussain with Sangam & Friends, a new collection of recordings that the legendary saxophonist and flutist made with the late Tabla master after their collaboration in Sangam. Set to release on July 24 via Blue Note, the record preserves the esteemed artists’ natural musical affinity in newly uncovered tapes from an unfinished project, along with songs from the Sangam archives featuring their trio mate Eric Harland. To preview the album, Lloyd has shared the steady and kinetic lead single “Jai Ganga.”

Sangam & Friends traces back to Lloyd, Hussain and Harland’s February 2009 sessions in Mumbai for an uncompleted follow-up to 2006’s Sangam. The artists sought to expand their sound for their next effort, welcoming an ensemble of Carnatic singer Vijay Prakash, Rakesh Chaurasia on bansuri, Sabir Khan on sarangi, Ranjit Barot on keyboard, and Niladri Kumar on sitar. Those ambitious selections are paired with earlier trio recordings like “Jai Ganga,” on which the artists gracefully trade the lead and converge around their solos with a flurry of exaltant reeds and intricate polyrhythms.

Producer Dorothy Darr recalls the album’s process and inspirations in the liner notes:

“In 2009, Zakir brought Charles to India to be part of his annual ‘Abbaji’ concert which honors his father, Alla Rakha. Experiencing India for the first time was intense and magnificent—Mumbai is a mass of humanity, with multilayers of sound, resplendent colors, and exotic flavors. It resonated with us on every level.

On the night of the ‘Abbaji’ concert, Sangam was joined on stage by a myriad of musicians and instruments—the haunting cry of the many stringed sarangi, sylvan and luminous melodies from the bansuri, the most classic of Indian sounds emanating from a sitar—and voice. In the days following the musical offering to Alla Rakha we went to Nirvana Studio to delve deeper into the waterfalls and eddies that had been stirred up.”

Hear “Jai Ganga” below.