Charles Lloyd first arrived on the scene back in the ’50s and soon made a name for himself on the West Coast (and well beyond) playing saxophone in a Coltrane-influenced vein that made him something of a crossover success. In the late ’60s and early ’70s, he was one of the biggest names in jazz, leading a band that at one point included Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette. His music, then and now, is an open mix of styles that had absorbed the modal approach of Indian music while also delving into sounds from East Asia.

Such importance was Asian culture to Lloyd that he took a sabbatical at the height of his career success and studied transcendental meditation for 10 years. He returned in the ’80s to play and record with such talented musicians as Dave Holland, John Abercrombie, Michel Petrucciani, Brad Mehldau, Billy Higgins and Zakir Hussain. Yet his working band since 2007 – pianist Jason Moran, bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland – goes down as a late-era classic for the 72-year-old leader. The quartet, along with guest vocalist Alycia Hall Moran, played the Rose Hall at Lincoln Center on Janu. 29, reaffirming the mercurial Lloyd’s stature as one of the great elder statesmen of jazz, somewhat of a shaman trickster and a tireless supporter of his sidemen. It was, in essence, a perfect Charles Lloyd show.

Perhaps the most revealing moment of the night was the closing piece, ‘Tagi.’ Here, Lloyd joined Moran at the piano for a swirling figure as Harland intoned a low moan into a microphone that recalled the chants of Tibetan monks. After a moment, Lloyd quoted several lines from the sacred Hindu text Bhagavad Gita. The overall theme was indeed a search for peace, clarity and serenity, and it was obvious that this informed the music of Lloyd and the band. The band was often rapturous, but quietly so.

Much like Wayne Shorter’s quartet, this group is an extension of its leader and can get as elevated as it wants to. Sometimes on the mid- to uptempo material this took on an almost academic bent, and there seemed to be less connection between the players. But when the material slowed down, there was an elegiac beauty that reached beyond jazz.

The band was most in sync on the ballads, of which there were many in this 10-song set. The members conjured music that was often delicate and melodic, with Lloyd gently blowing melodies on his tenor sax (though he had his alto flute or tarogato onstage, he didn’t play them). Lloyd plays a crooked tenor sax like Lester Young did, and you could hear Young’s influence on the delicate runs, trills and elliptical lines. Never did Lloyd overplay – if that doesn’t honor Young, I don’t know what does.

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