After the artistic success of A Trio of Trios in 2023, a trilogy of three quite different trios – the Chapel Trio, the Ocean Trio and the Sacred Thread Trio – Lloyd returns to the tried and tested combination of piano, bass and drums, the format with which he made his astonishing breakthrough in the 1960s that for a while at least, was more popular than the Miles Davis Quintet.

But instead of reassembling his New Quartet, with whom he has worked over the last 10 tears or so, he pulls a surprise by putting together a group that has never played together before. On this two-CD/LP set, he presents a collection of brand new originals that emerged during the lockdown months of the Covid pandemic that hint at an autobiographical subtext in the song titles, and two hymns he remembered from his school days.

While ‘Monk’s Dance’ adheres to a specific form, many titles have open forms, and it is here the invention and ingenuity and collective wisdom of Lloyd’s accompanists allow Lloyd’s improvisational magic to blossom on originals such as ‘Ghost of Lady Day,’ ‘When the Sun Comes Up’ and the title track.