Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Joe Lovano and Hank Jones: Kids: Duets Live at Dizzy's C...

469

Joe Lovano and Hank Jones: Kids: Duets Live at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola

By

View read count
Early jazz is often music of joy and playfulness—it's no wonder the great cartoons of the 1930s and 1940s are often backed by a classic jazz soundtrack. Now that jazz has become "art and "music of significance, joy and playfulness are too often missing from performances. It is a pleasure, then, that Kids: Duets Live at Dizzy's, a collaboration between Joe Lovano on tenor and soprano sax and Hank Jones on piano, revives the waning art of joyful jazz.

Kids may lack some of the emotional power of Art Pepper's final recordings with George Cables, Goin' Home and Téte-à'Téte, (both Original Jazz Classics, 1982) or Stan Getz' last recording with Kenny Barron, People Time (Verve, 1992). These were each colored by the sax players' awareness of their own impending mortality. But Kids has plenty of the brilliant play and artistic partnership of these predecessor piano/sax duos, and the audience at Dizzy's responds enthusiastically.

The cross-fertilization between generations works well here. Jones will be ninety in July 2008, while Lovano is still in his mid-fifties; but both share a love of traditional jazz, demonstrated on their previous quartet albums for Blue Note, I'm All for You (2004) and Joyous Encounter (2005). Jones seems to be channeling the ghosts of Fats Waller or Art Tatum with his glittering runs on the album's opener, "Lady Luck, or his stride play on the solo, "Oh! Look at Me Now! Still, Jones follows Lovano's lead gleefully on the saxophonist's more bop-ish original, "Charlie Chan and the classic "Budo.

There are other pleasures on the album: Lovano's lyrical work on "Soultrane is one, the prickly Monk tune "Four in One another. Jones transforms "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin' from hoary standard into meditative tone poem. Thad Jones' "Kids Are Pretty People is an engaging vehicle for the pair to amble through some bluesy solo and duo work. The album ends with a lovely cover of "Lazy Afternoon. The slightly melancholy take by clarinetist Ken Peplowski and Jones (on celeste and piano) from Jones' Lazy Afternoon, (Concord, 1989.) contrasts with Lovano and Jones' version, which offers a leisurely conversation between old friends; a perfect conclusion to an enjoyable live set.

Track Listing

Lady Luck; Charlie Chan; Lullaby; Little Rascal On A Rock; Budo; Soultrane; Kids Are Pretty People; Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin'; Oh! Look At Me Now!; Four In One; Lazy Afternoon;

Personnel

Joe Lovano
saxophone

Joe Lovano: tenor and soprano saxophones; Hank Jones: piano.

Album information

Title: Kids (Live At Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola) | Year Released: 2007 | Record Label: Blue Note


About Joe Lovano

Tags


PREVIOUS / NEXT



Joe Lovano Concerts

Dec 1 Tue
Dec 1 Tue
Dec 2 Wed
Dec 2 Wed
Dec 3 Thu
Dec 3 Thu
Dec 4 Fri

Become a Sustaining Member

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter

Since 1995, All About Jazz has championed jazz as an art form and supported the musicians who create it. Over three decades, it has grown into one of the world's leading jazz resources, serving hundreds of thousands of readers, musicians, presenters and industry professionals each month.

Help Build the Future of All About Jazz

Your support helps us continue building All About Jazz for the next generation—expanding our editorial coverage, preserving jazz history, developing new community features and creating better ways to discover the music and the people behind it.

Become a sustaining member for as little as $20 per year and you'll immediately enjoy an ad-free experience along with access to subscriber features and future articles for a full year.

Together, we're not simply sustaining All About Jazz—we're building its future. Thank you for being part of the journey.

More

A Distant Land
Rich Halley 4
Renovation
Benny Green
Kevin Sun, I.
Kevin Sun

Popular

Desolation Row
David Maranha / Rodrigo Amado
2014 NYC
King Crimson
Beneath Lifted Skies
Linda May Han Oh & Melissa Aldana
Talamanti
Patricia Brennan and Sylvie Courvoisier

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletters highlight our top stories, top album reviews, website news, free songs, radio & podcast shows, news, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.