Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Jakob Bro / Joe Lovano: Once Around the Room
Jakob Bro / Joe Lovano: Once Around the Room
ByAcolytes all of the late Paul Motian, Bro, who made his ECM debut on the drummer's Garden of Eden (ECM, 2006) and Lovano, who goes back nearly four decades with Motian's many creative iterations, lead Once Around A Room through a meditative investigation of the collective soul. The common voice we all speak in if only we'd bother to listen to one another. It is a needed affirmation not only to the memory and vitality of Motian but also to our need for one on one communication.
From the impressionistic resonance of "As It Should Be" emerges "Sound Creation," a collective improvisation that seances Motian's thrill for spontaneity. It's an orchestral meander, each player regarding the other, waiting on the other to complete his thought and then add his own. "For the Love of Paul," one of Lovano's more evocative invocations of the larger power, moves forward on Baron and Rossy's roiling and Christensen's undertow into a keening conversation between the two main players. Grenadier and Morgan then highlight the track with an intuitive call and response of their own.
Reminiscent of Lovano's many sessions with Motian and guitarist Bill Frisell, Bro's telling ballad "Song For An Old Friend" unfolds with unfettered grace like slow clouds across a sky lake. Spurred on by Baron and Rossy, "Drum Music," first heard on Motian's second album Jack of Clubs (Soul Note, 1984) revels in its many colors and positive charge. Once Around the Room then closes quietly with Bro's "Pause" another nod towards the folky textures of Frisell as the guitarist weaves between the basses, the drummers skitter and scat and Lovano prayerfully concludes. It is a beautiful thing.
Track Listing
As It Should Be; Sound Creation; For the Love of Paul; Song To An Old Friend; Drum Music; Pause.
Personnel
Jakob Bro
guitarJoe Lovano
saxophoneLarry Grenadier
bass, acousticThomas Morgan
bass, acousticAnders Christensen
bass, acousticJoey Baron
drumsJorge Rossy
drumsAlbum information
Title: Once Around the Room | Year Released: 2022 | Record Label: ECM Records
< Previous
Unison Polyphony
Next >
Voices Of Bishara
Comments
Tags
Jakob Bro / Joe Lovano
Album Review
Mike Jurkovic
Fully Altered Media
Once Around the Room
ECM Records
Larry Grenadier
Thomas Morgan
Joey Baron
Jorge Rossy
Jakob Bro
Anders Christiansen
joe lovano
Paul Motion
Bill Frisell