LAST October, acting on a whim, the saxophonist Joe Lovano showed up uninvited at the trumpeter Wynton Marsaliss show at the Paramount Center for the Arts in Peekskill. Horn in hand, he came ready to play and play he did, adding an unexpected and welcome note to the evening.
On May 9, Mr. Lovano, 56, will return to the Paramount. While his appearance this time will be planned Mr. Lovano will be leading his nonet, his old friend Mr. Marsalis probably nowhere in sight expectations are high that he will continue to surprise, if mainly in the improvisations that flow from his much-heralded horn.
Joe is much more spontaneous than most musicians, said John Patitucci, a bassist from Westchester, minutes before taking the stage at Birdland, in Manhattan, where he joined Mr. Lovanos quartet this month for the final night of a five-night engagement. That show, featuring bop to ballads, brought the packed house down.
Having seen the quartet perform earlier in the week, Gunther Schuller, the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and arranger, praised Mr. Lovano for his continuing spontaneity, inventiveness and imagination. I dont know of anyone who combines those three things at such a high level so consistently, he said.
Mr. Schuller, 83, should know. He played French horn and did some conducting on Miles Daviss seminal mid-20th-century LP Birth of the Cool, and adapted material from that record for Mr. Lovanos album Streams of Expression, which was nominated for a Grammy in 2007.
Mr. Lovano attributed the nonets success on The Birth of the Cool Suite in part to empathy among the musicians. Of the saxophonists alone, he counted Steve Slagle, alto, Ralph Lalama, tenor, and Gary Smulyan, baritone, as friends and associates with whom he has shared stages and, in some cases, living quarters over the years.
Theres a real beautiful communication and sensibility about the way we play together, he said.
But even groups with close ties can lose a groove, especially when handling finely calibrated charts like Birth of the Cool. For the Peekskill date it wont hurt that the nonet will have performed the night before at the Aetna Theater in Hartford, affording the players a chance in concert to iron out musical kinks that may have developed since they last worked together, in the fall.
Jazz performers at the 1,000-seat Paramount have typically drawn 30 percent to 50 percent of capacity, compared with 90 percent or more for rock acts, said Jon Yanofsky, the centers executive director. Mr. Lovanos show, he said, is not deviating markedly from the pattern.
But whatever the competition from other scheduled performances, Mr. Lovano is taking the situation in stride. Few musicians enjoy successful working groups in as many configurations as he does, from a celebrated duo relationship with the pianist Hank Jones up to the nonet, which is in its 10th year.
Joe Lovano Nonet at 8 p.m. on May 9 at the Paramount Center for the Arts, 1008 Brown Street, Peekskill. Tickets, $25 and $35. Information: (914) 739-2333 or paramountcenter.org.
