Joe Lovano (sax/clt); James Weidman (pno); Petar Slavov (bs); Otis Brown, Francisco Mela (dms).
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Mike Stern (gtr); Bob Malach (ten); Tom Kennedy (bs); Dave Wecki (dms).
A storming set by Lovano and US Five opened the concert with the saxist excelling on some scintillating choruses on tenor, a straight alto, clarinet and soprano (I think!). He really is a master technician and he simply soared in birdlike fashion through a selection from his latest CD - Bird Songs - including Yardbird Suite, Ko-Ko, Loverman as well as some less familiar titles.
Pianist Weidman filled in the gaps with some well-crafted solos of his own as did the bassist who replaced Esperanza Spalding but whose name I failed to catch (hindsight in the form of Russell tell me it is Petar Slavov.
A riveting performance although many that I spoke to questioned his choice of two drummers. I couldn't answer the question - Pete Gilligan said "Because he chose to have two drummers."
For me they didn't intrude and the two drum thrash at the set's end was as exciting a percussive display as I've heard in many a year.
The wear and tear of the weekend began to take it's toll and I couldn't get into Mike Stern's set too deeply.
He's a virtuoso player no doubt with a choice of facial expressions and leg movements that indicate that he's clearly enjoying himself but, after three numbers it all began to sound rather repetitive so I left whilst the Lovano magic was still with me.
Having said that, I must confess that I found the tenor playing of Bob Malach equally stimulating and hope to catch him again sometime.
Lance.
2 comments :
Hi Lance, I didn't catch Joe Lovano at the Sage, I was down in London that weekend. Really bad timing, I know. So instead of having a jazz free weekend I booked into Ronnie Scotts on Friday.
I was more than a bit surprised to find that the band was, you guessed it, Joe and Us 5! He played a great gig and the cosier surroundings of the club the interaction between Joe and the drummers was intense.
Just a little correction, if you don't mind. I had a good view of Joe and he wasn't playing a clarinet. It was made of wood and had clarinet keywork, but it was conical like a saxophone not cylindrical which a clarinet would be. The sound of it was altogether a more exotic mix of sax and stick. According to Joe's website, it's called an Aulochrome - a polyphonic saxophone and apparrently the next generation in woodwind. Call me old-fashioned but , though I was intrigued by the sound, I think I'll stick with my usual saxes and clarinet.
Jeff Smith
Thanks Jeff - I was sitting way back in the hall and couldn't work out what it was. From a distance it looked like a clarinet - I thought maybe it was a metal clarinet however, now I know - an Aulochrome!Thanks again
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