From John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins to Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young, America has seen a number of highly influential tenor saxmen, all of whom have developed and maintained their own distinctive musical personalities and most of whom nurtured their unique voice around the same time period: the 1940s and 1950s.
Many jazz enthusiasts would attribute such diversity to any number of things, including the popularity of big bands, the advent of bebop or emergence of cool jazz on the West Coast. However, for every one superior influence, there are countless others whose voices never fully emerged on the beloved instrument and, unfortunately, were nothing more than imitations of their favorite musicians.
Joe Lovano is one fine example of a tenor player who has absorbed all of what the jazz of the past has to offer him, all the while remaining focused on honing his own individual style and tone throughout the years.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Lovano, now in his early 50s, followed in the footsteps of his father who also played the tenor saxophone. He later moved to Boston to attend the Berklee College of Music in the early 1970s. Since the end of his school days, Lovano has put out 16 records on the Blue Note label. His two most recent are a live album with his nonet recorded at the Village Vanguard, "On This Day ... At the Vanguard," and a ballad-based project, "I'm All For You," with a quartet featuring jazz legends Hank Jones on piano, Paul Motian on drums and George Mraz on bass.
The Beach Reporter sat down with Lovano and talked about his two most recent work and his top five albums of all time. The Joe Lovano Nonet performs at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts Saturday, May 1.
The Beach Reporter: You recorded 'On This Day' at the Village Vanguard, of course.
Joe Lovano: Yes, the nonet's been together since 1999. The first recording that we did was called "52nd Street Themes" and it won a Grammy in the year 2000. Since that time, we've been touring and playing a lot together. It's one of my groups. I have three or four different situations that all have their own repertoire and personnel. "On This Day" was to really document some new music, and the way we are playing now and in a live situation.
Did you plan this or did it kind of happen naturally?
Well, we recorded for two nights and it just so happened that everything came from the second night. It all kind of culminated together - the sound and the way the band played. So, that part of the album kind of just happened. There was not much editing, we just kind of put it in order as we played it and tried to crystallize the sound.
You mention how the Vanguard has been integral in your development as a musician. How so?
Well, it's the only club, really, that exists today where Miles Davis played, where the Keith Jarrett Quartet with Dewey Redman played, the Bill Evans Trio played, Sonny Rollins played, Coltrane played. So, the room has a lot of amazing spirits (laughs). I mean, as a listener, when you go in there, you feel like you're in a really sacred-type place as far as jazz. You feel those who have been there - Thelonious Monk, Dexter Gordon, Art Blakey, Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter and Joe Henderson - so to play in that space is a beautiful feeling. It's a very warm feeling. So, as a young musician coming up, when you go there to hear people, you feel all of those things. Jazz is about feeling and expression, and that comes through your music all the time - those experiences.
I love the ending to your original composition, 'At the Vanguard' where the drums and horn section switch off in playing the head. How long did it take to rehearse that song?
We had been playing that piece that week so everybody learned it (laughs) but the very first time we looked at it we rehearsed a little bit then played through it and we just hit on it. It's a very free piece and the way we do trade with the drums is very creative within the band.
Because the group captures qualities of both the big band and a smaller group, has this then been your approach with the nonet?
Sure, definitely. It comes into trios, duets and quartets all the time and that's the heart of the band. Ensemblewise, I have these other voices that just filter in and out. Everyone is a key soloist as well. I don't have people who are just sitting there playing their part. I want a band that has a lot of interplay where everyone's contribution makes the version that you hear special. I think that's what makes my nonet different from others. That was also the 52nd Street period, that's how all those old cats played together like all those old Charlie Parker records. They are almost like jam sessions but they are a little more organized.
You've included a few Tadd Dameron tunes on 'On This Day.' What is it about his pieces that you like so much?
Well, like Thelonious Monk's songs they are classic as far as the harmonic structure which are original and beautiful, and melodically, some are very challenging to play and the challenge is the simplicity of them. Tadd was one of the main architects, so to speak, of the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band in the 1940s. He was really on the scene with Monk at that time as not only a player but as a major composer. A lot of his tunes are based on standards; you're familiar with the harmonies yet the melodies are really abstract and different. I called Tadd up to do the orchestrations for me but not really the arrangements of themes and maybe write an interlude here and there or an ensemble that I could put in when I want to. There is a difference.
How would you describe the difference in an orchestration vs. an arrangement then?
An orchestration of the melody is the way you write it and harmonize it. To write an arrangement of that same tune, you would not only do the orchestration but also write out a specific way of how the song is going to go - who plays when - a full arrangement is counted off and played from start to finish. It happens the same way every time except for the solos. I didn't want Tadd to do that. I wanted him to write orchestration of the themes and ending to make it real simple so we could play the theme and I could direct how the arrangement goes freely as we are playing. I may take the first solo, I may point to the trumpet to take the next solo and then cue the piano. So, every night we play through the same tune, the arrangement is different but the orchestration stays the same as far as what Tadd wrote on the themes or the ensemble. That gave me a lot more freedom to direct and allow the flow of each tune to have a different shape every time we played it.
The new album, 'I'm All For You,' kind of served as a decompressing period following something like the Vanguard record.
Well, the focus was all ballads, and the focus was to play some classic songs and make them our own. I think you go into a ballad project with a singing quality, more. But from tune to tune, each has its own mood and flavor, and that's the challenge of doing a recording - to sustain the mood. I think it takes a minute to really develop to that maturity to be relaxed enough to play on a ballad project and that's why for me, to do this now in my career, I think I really developed to a point where I could try and do it. It's not just a collection of songs, it's a collection of pieces that really mean something to me and everybody involved. The title track (Lovano original) is based on the sequence of "Body and Soul" but it's my own melodic invention on it. It's a theme I wrote out to be able to play with interpretation time and time again. It's not an improvisation; it's actually something I wrote. I wrote a new song based on the harmonies of "Body and Soul." To play with a rhythm section with Hank, George and Paul was to make it free and as creative as possible. I mean, Hank Jones is one of the giants in music.
What are your top five desert-island albums?
Miles Davis, "Round About Midnight"
Keith Jarrett, "For Yaweh"
Any Charlie Parker record that I could grab going out the door
John Coltrane, "A Love Supreme" or "Meditations"
Bill Evans Trio, "How My Heart Sings"
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