Continuing the elegant group interplay explored on 2004’s I’m All for You, tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano and pianist Hank Jones reunite on Joyous Encounter. Recorded right after finishing the tour in support of the group’s aforementioned first outing, Joyous Encounter features a quartet with obvious love for each other…

Bringing to mind a superb mix of Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins, I’m All for You finds forward-thinking saxophonist Joe Lovano expertly balancing heartfelt melodicism and cerebral harmonic improvisation. Easily one of Lovano’s most listenable endeavors, the ballads-oriented album pulls no punches and simply allows you to sit back…

Viva Caruso is easily one of tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano’s most ambitious and enjoyable recordings. Much like Terence Blanchard’s Jazz in Film or Uri Caine’s Urlicht/Primal Light, Viva Caruso finds the reedman adapting orchestral melodies and harmonies to a jazz format. Inspired after reading a biography about Italian tenor…

The first edition of Joe Lovano’s Trio Fascination featured Dave Holland on bass and Elvin Jones on drums. Following the album’s release in 1998, however, Lovano’s live shows featured the less famous but equally muscular bass/drum team of Cameron Brown and Idris Muhammad. On Trio Fascination, Vol. 2, the…

The latest CD by jazz saxophonist Joe Lovano blends New York attitude with Midwestern warmth in an homage to the Manhattan street where bebop ruled in the ’50s and ’60s. The music here, like that of such other thematic Lovano albums as Rush Hour (his 1995 celebration of third-stream…

Whether embracing Gunther Schuller’s arrangements or paying tribute to Frank Sinatra, Joe Lovano was as consistent as he was unpredictable in the 1990s. Most of his Blue Note output was excellent, and Trio Fascination, Edition One is no exception. This impressive inside/outside date finds Lovano forming a pianoless trio…

This austere session was inspired by a fluke incident. In 1995, Rubalcaba’s Cuban rhythm players were denied visas for a gig at Yoshi’s in Oakland, CA, and the booker decided to bring in Lovano in their place for four nights of duos. Two years later, they went into the studio together for one…

Although this project may not seem to have much potential at first glance, tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano’s tribute to Frank Sinatra is consistently brilliant and inventive. Since Sinatra recorded countless songs, Lovano had plenty to choose from, and he came up with 13 superior standards. Rather than just play…

Named Jazz Album of the Year by readers of Downbeat Magazine, this double CD features tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano during two appearances at the Village Vanguard recorded ten months apart. Other than the leader, the pair of quartets are completely different and they bring out two sides of Lovano….

This is one of the most exciting jazz releases of 1995. Joe Lovano is showcased on four songs backed by a string section, is accompanied by a stringless big band filled with woodwinds and brass during four other pieces, performs Ornette Coleman’s “Kathline Gray” with a chamber group, takes…