Steve Winwood’s previous CD, About Time, may not be one of his best-known albums. But it may stand as one of the most important artistic statements of a career that now spans five decades.

“Really for me, About Time was a great success, probably not in terms of sheer numbers [sold],” Winwood said of the 2003 CD in a recent phone interview. “But I think in terms of what I actually want to put on the record and my own control of what I was able to put on the record at that time, it was a great success.”

Winwood’s newly released CD, Nine Lives, continues what he started with About Time. It finds Winwood taking elements of rock, R&B, jazz and world beat and creating an enticing stylistic blend. But if anything, the marriage between these styles is even more seamless and sophisticated on Nine Lives than on About Time.

“When I made About Time, I hadn’t been working with that [band] format at all, so I was just guessing how I thought it would or should sound,” Winwood said. “Of course now, I’ve got five years benefit of actually playing and recording and jamming and practicing, rehearsing with that kind of lineup.”

In a sense, the cross-pollination of musical styles on Nine Lives is an extension of what Winwood, 60, has been doing since he came on the music scene in the Spencer Davis Group in the mid-1960s.

With songs like “Gimme Some Lovin’” and “I’m a Man,” Winwood blended blues, rock and R&B.

Winwood isn’t sure what he’ll play each night in his hour-long set because he plans to keep things evolving throughout the tour.

“Because we’re doing an hour, we’re thinking that we might really change it up each night, like doing a completely different set each night,” Winwood said.