Charles Lloyd is getting ready to release Trios: Sacred Thread, the third and final album in his Trio of Trios series.

The expansive project presents the legendary saxophonist and NEA Jazz Master in three different trio settings. Trios: Sacred Thread features Lloyd with guitarist Julian Lage and percussionist Zakir Hussain.

“Zakir and I played together in concert for the first time in 2001,” Lloyd explains, “and it was then I learned Alla Rakha was his father, whom I saw playing with Ravi Shankar at USC, so it has been like that… connections on a journey. You could call it Providence, I call it a Sacred Thread.”

He continues: “I first heard young Julian when he was 12. He grew up not far from Healdsburg and was known to be a wunderkind — he had big ears and I heard his potential. Twenty years later I invited him to join me. He’s still a young man and his ears have only grown bigger. So, I keep being blessed by souls who find a way to me, it still inspires me to go out on the high wire and try to fly.”

Listen to Desolation Sound below: