Joe Lovano’s joint project with the vaunted WDR Big Band & Rudfunk Orchester from Germany (recorded live in concert on November 26, 2005, aside from the studio track “His Dreams”) is one of many collaborations combining an American jazz artist with the horns and strings of this classically oriented,…

Tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano and pianist Hank Jones make for a perfect combination on this set of live duets. They had played together on an occasional basis for the two years prior to this project, collaborating on the Joyous Encounter recording. Jones has a timeless style that since 1944…

Joe Lovano can always be relied upon to switch gears from one project to another, constantly exploring new music and fresh variations of older pieces. On Streams of Expression, he contributes the five-part “Streams of Expression Suite,” a three-part “Birth of the Cool Suite” (conducted by Gunther Schuller) that…

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…