With his new quintet, Joe Lovano takes a multicultural approach
American saxophonist and composer Joe Lovano is touring with his new quintet, Us Five, and their upcoming show in Prague is the highlight of this season's Agharta Jazz Festival.
Born in 1952 in Cleveland, Ohio, Lovano is a powerhouse on the tenor and straight alto saxes, as well as assorted woodwind instruments. He ranks among the top players in American jazz at this point, after studying under Gary Burton at Berklee College of Music and playing with the likes of Woody Herman's New Thundering Herd, Stan Getz and Zoot Sims early in his career (in the mid-1970s). He then played in the Mel Lewis Big Band - which is to say, the Village Vanguard house band - every Monday night for 11 years (1980-91). During that time, he was also playing regularly with Carla Bley's band, Paul Motian and Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra.
All of which gave Lovano opportunities to refine his own distinctive style by playing with some of America's best jazz musicians. He also credits an early stint with Brother Jack McDuff, touring during the last days of the “Chitlin' Circuit" in the early 1970s as the only non-African-American musician in the group, for providing an invaluable experience in the deeply positive multicultural dimensions of the jazz world, not only among musicians, but between musicians and audiences.
American saxophonist and composer Joe Lovano is touring with his new quintet, Us Five, and their upcoming show in Prague is the highlight of this season's Agharta Jazz Festival.
Born in 1952 in Cleveland, Ohio, Lovano is a powerhouse on the tenor and straight alto saxes, as well as assorted woodwind instruments. He ranks among the top players in American jazz at this point, after studying under Gary Burton at Berklee College of Music and playing with the likes of Woody Herman's New Thundering Herd, Stan Getz and Zoot Sims early in his career (in the mid-1970s). He then played in the Mel Lewis Big Band - which is to say, the Village Vanguard house band - every Monday night for 11 years (1980-91). During that time, he was also playing regularly with Carla Bley's band, Paul Motian and Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra.
All of which gave Lovano opportunities to refine his own distinctive style by playing with some of America's best jazz musicians. He also credits an early stint with Brother Jack McDuff, touring during the last days of the “Chitlin' Circuit" in the early 1970s as the only non-African-American musician in the group, for providing an invaluable experience in the deeply positive multicultural dimensions of the jazz world, not only among musicians, but between musicians and audiences.
