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Joe Lovano: Inimitable Streams of Expression
by Angela Davis
Penned as “one of the greatest musicians in jazz history," saxophonist Joe Lovano has successfully created a unique voice within the jazz tradition and has contributed significantly to the continuance and development of the idiom.In just over a quarter of a century he has created an expansive body of work that has covered a broad spectrum of styles. This includes swing, bebop, hard-bop, post-bop, the avant-garde and interpretations of the music of Frank Sinatra and Enrico Caruso. He ...
Continue ReadingJoe Lovano: Joe Lovano - Bird Songs
by Jonathan Wertheim
Joe Lovano's Us Five debut, Folk Art (Blue Note, 2009), was a triumphantly energetic outing, filled with the sound of two drummers and running through a program of Lovano's originals. It was a highly personal and emphatic debut, and a great one too, but Bird Songs is important in completing the portrait of this ensemble. Bird Songs confirms what was previously just a suspicion--that this ensemble has a wide range of expression that can be applied to ...
Continue ReadingJoe Lovano / Us Five: Bird Songs
by Troy Collins
An inquisitive musician with a reverence for tradition, Grammy-winning saxophonist Joe Lovano has recorded a number of unique tributes to artists who have inspired him, including Enrico Caruso and Frank Sinatra. But none of his previous homages, not even 52nd Street Themes (Blue Note, 2000), his love letter to the bebop era, are as relevant to his artistic development as Bird Songs, Lovano's modernistic reinterpretation of tunes written by and associated with the great Charlie Parker.Reevaluating these revered ...
Continue ReadingJoe Lovano / Us Five: Bird Songs
by Andrew J. Sammut
Sax giant Joe Lovano has blown next to a bevy of jazz greats, and been applauded as soloist and leader throughout his nearly 40-year career. While it might seem surprising that audiences had to wait until his 22nd album for a tribute to Charlie Parker, Bird Songs demonstrates, once again, that Lovano does things his own way, and that great things are worth waiting for. Lovano and his Us Five band cover tunes that “Bird" penned and ...
Continue ReadingJoe Lovano with Family and Friends: Cleveland Heights, December 28, 2010
by Matt Marshall
Joe LovanoNighttownCleveland Heights, OhioDecember 28, 2010 Late into the third set of his homecoming gig with family and friends at Nighttown, saxophonist Joe Lovano took to the mike to remind all in attendance that “Cleveland has always had a creative music scene goin' on." It felt part pep talk, part classic eureka moment of the chronically pessimistic Clevelander, sprung this night from the combustive heat of a wonderfully overstuffed room: “Wait, wow, this is our ...
Continue ReadingPaul Motian: Bill Evans
by AAJ Italy Staff
Ecco una ristampa da non lasciarsi sfuggire, se non l'avete già oppure se il vostro Lp è troppo consumato. Nel maggio 1990 il trio di Paul Motian con Lovano e Frisell (ampliato per l'occasione al bassista Marc Johnson), dedicò un omaggio a Bill Evans incidendo un album di sue composizioni. Come nel caso dell'omaggio dedicato due anni prima a Monk, Motian realizzò un disco magistrale, tra i più riusciti della sua carriera di leader. Le composizioni di Bill Evans erano ...
Continue ReadingJoe Lovano: Folk Art
by Jeff Stockton
Some jazz artists enter a period in their careers where they've said all they have to say yet carry on, eking out a living, resting on laurels and simply playing out the string. Not saxophonist Joe Lovano. Folk Art is his 22nd recording for Blue Note alone, a run that has been marked by artistic consistency and tasteful excellence. This collection, however, is arguably the freshest and richest inside/out session he's delivered in his admirable career, certainly since Trio Fascination ...
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