Joe Lovano Quartet live concert at our US/EU Jazz – Blues Festival 2023: Video, Photos

Another guest of our US/EU Jazz – Blues Festival 2023, especially in this jubilee year, was the Joe Lovano Quartet, a great holiday for jazz lovers.

Joe Lovano is a veteran of various musical settings over a long career. His voice is adaptable — but always distinctive. No matter his musical surroundings, there is never any doubt that it is Lovano you are hearing. He can shake things up aplenty, but here he fits in with the program — he maintains a mostly gentle touch.

The group finds fertile common ground on two takes of Carla Bley’s “Vashkar,” a tune many musicians have found intriguing over the years. Lovano’s coloristic expressiveness contrasts effectively with the piece’s dark drama. Foreboding lurks in passages that nimbly interweave shadows and light. Rhythms percolate underneath — and they resonate mystery.],

“Cadenza,” a group composition, is another strong piece. A piano/bass dialogue sets an edgy tone. Joined by sax and drums, the foursome heats up, steaming the proceedings into what sounds like controlled chaos. But the arrival of a reflective piano passage cools things off — leaving at least this listener wishing for a bit more agitation.

Pianist serves up the feisty with his “L’Amour Fou,” a playful romp written with Lovano in mind. After the trio revs things up, the saxman enters for an evocative excursion over a tumbling vamp, sounding like a wayward cosmopolitan lost amid a slew of upbeat romantic reveries.

The leader’s “Old Hat” ends the concert on a traditional note. Lovano adds slathers of classic melancholy to a piece that tells a wistful tale.

Joe Lovano, for his part, is in high spirits, lurching giddily through “Big Ben” and letting out joyful squeals during the driving coda to “Don’t Ever Leave Me.” At times he’s almost too loquacious-his note-heavy treatment of “I’m All for You” comes close to demolishing that ballad-but given the caliber of the company, who can blame him for getting excited?

It all comes to a head with a superlative closing run through Oliver Nelson’s sly blues “Six and Four.” Jones gives his quartet the full rolling barrelhouse treatment, while Lovano darts around the changes like a prizefighter in the ring.

Lovano has spent many late nights at concerts leading one band or another.

Simon Sarg; Prague, Chzech

PS: – In his speech, Simon Sarg evaluated the events of the past year and singled out the names of some bums who tried to cast a shadow on our festivals, this website and his name, which the audience accepted by shouting and cursing at such so-called and bad musicians and tearing their caricatures. In this report, we don’t even consider it necessary to touch on such lice…

Unfortunately, the video is not from our festival, but it was performed with the same composition and the same composition.