Joe Lovano: Turner Sims (From Daily Echo)

Joe Lovano: Turner Sims

11:20am Tuesday 29th March 2011 in Music Reviews

In the perfect acoustics of the Turner Sims concert hall, American jazz great Joe Lovano played an opening solo saxophone motif.

An eloquent double bass underpinned spacey piano chords, two drummers produced flurries of percussion, and a 30-minute medley developed.

Concluding a 21-date European tour, with only four gigs in England – including London’s prestigious Ronnie Scott’s club – Joe Lovano justified the New York Times’ quote: “He’s one of the greatest musicians in jazz history”.

With nods to the styles of many jazz saxophone giants – particularly John Coltrane, Lester Young and Roland Kirk – Lovano featured music from his new album Bird Songs, an exploration of the Charlie Parker songbook.

Yardbird Suite – bookended by subtle hints of Gershwin’s wonderful Rhapsody In Blue – has some lovely Parkeresque melodic sections, mixed with driving irresistible vigour.

Lovano’s controversial line-up with two drummers provides a rich range of percussive shades, but it is occasionally messy, the single drummer sections clearer and more focussed, particularly with the explosive Francisco Mela on sticks.

This is quality jazz, with fluid and elusive melodies, shifting rhythms, and extensive textures in the instruments.

Modern and avant-garde jazz can be an acquired taste – if you get it, it becomes narcotic; if you don’t get it, it can be discordant and jarring.

As one lady mused on leaving Lovano’s concert at the Turner Sims, “There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to that... yet it sounded marvellous!”

That’s jazz.

Brendan McCusker