Joe Lovano For Keeps

I had the pleasure of listening to Joe Lovano live in Sioux Falls several years ago and that makes for a bond.  You can read my review here.  Don't bother with the links.  They are long gone. 

Heading back from Huron SD tonight I listened to Ken Laster's In the Groove podcast and he played a couple of cuts from Lovano's new album: Cross Culture.  Both were excellent, so I spent some of my eMusic dollars to land the album. 

Lovano is the real thing.  His "Us Five" group is superb.  Lovano plays on the edge of hard bop and avant garde, with all due deference to both sides of that edge.  He is a master at squeezing out every last bit of juice from a melody. 

I am playing 'Blessings In May' and 'Star Crossed Lovers'.  Here is the lineup:

• Bass – Esperanza Spalding (tracks: 1, 5, 8, 10), Peter Slavov* (tracks: 2 to 4, 8, 9, 11)
• Drums – Otis Brown III
• Drums, Whistle, Balafon – Francisco Mela
• Electric Guitar [Special Guest] – Lionel Loueke (tracks: 2 to 4, 6, 7, 11)
• Piano – James Weidman
• Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone [G Mezzo Soprano Saxophone], Soprano Saxophone [Aulochrome], Tárogató [Tarogato], Percussion [Oborom Drum], Gong [Gongs], Shaker [Shakers], Percussion [Puddle Drums] – Joe Lovano

Ken Laster leads me to the gold

Okay, so I have been missing a lot of Ken Laster's In the Groove: Jazz and Beyond, lately.  Whoever said that time is money got it wrong.  Time is Music.  Anyway, I have been trying to catch up by throwing a lot of Ken's podcast on discs (mp3) and I listen to it whenever I get in my car.  

Yesterday as I drove to work I heard his podcast "3 Nights in NYC".  The first cut was 'Moanin' by the Mingus Big Band, from the album Live At Jazz Standard.  I am not generally a big band fan, but this one grabbed me by the short and curlies and lifted me right out of my seat.  Yes, I cried out!  It was magnificent.  Here is the lineup:

1. Randy Brecker, 
2. Kenny Rampton and
3. Earl Gardner, Trumpet
4. Wayne Escoffery and 
5. Abraham Burton, Tenor Saxophone
6. Vincent Herring, Alto Saxophone
7. Douglas Yates, Alto, Soprano Saxophone and Flute
8. Lauren Sevian, Baritone Saxophone
9. Ku-Umba 
10. Frank Lacy and 
11. Conrad Herwig, Trombones
12. Earl McIntyre, Bass Trombone and 
13. TubaDavid Kikoski, Piano
14. Boris Kozlov, Bass
15. Jeff "Tain" Watts, Drums

This album is superb.  I am playing 'Moanin' and 'Song with Orange', one of my favorite Mingus compositions.  Just to show that Ken and yours truly are on the same wavelength, Ken also playing a piece by Jonathan Blake.  I just put a piece from Blake's new album The Eleventh Hour on my playlist this week. 

Laster's Jazz and Beyond is the best jazz podcast I have ever found.  Subscribe!