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The saxophone’s 19th-century inventor, the Belgian Adolphe Sax, imagined hybrid horns that could combine the speed and fluency of woodwinds with the volume and punch of brass. Sax’s career was almost derailed by a childhood of hair-raisingly frequent accident-proneness that led his mother to fear for his survival, but at 20 he patented a prototype contrabass clarinet, and then the first saxophone as its offspring. Sneered at by traditionalists for decades, the sax was sidelined to parade bands and purring strings mimicry in dance orchestras – until jazz musicians from Sidney Bechet in the 1920s to Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter and scores more contemporary originals, all the way to Joe Lovano today, put it centre stage as jazz’s radiantly expressive equivalent of the classical violin.
And Lovano’s Paramount Quartet glows with all the saxophone’s pliable eloquence in a master’s hands, alongside comparably free-spirited guitarist Julian Lage, bassist Asante Santi Debriano and sometime Living Colour drummer Will Calhoun. Lovano is a brilliant bebop player, but also an inspired free-improviser, creatively inhabiting the sound worlds of classic jazz, global music and more texture-based European approaches. He played Charlie Haden’s First Song with Bill Frisell long ago, and here it returns on a lyrical solo guitar intro from Lage and an exquisite sax theme, spinning into long improv over vaporous guitar chords and soft, sleek runs.
On the faintly Ornettish Amsterdam (featuring the tonally rich G mezzo soprano sax), symmetrical ascents and descents swell into fast improv-swapping sax/guitar improv as Calhoun’s rattling percussion intensifies; Fanfare for Unity is a percussive disguised-funk dance, Wayne Shorter’s Lady Day is entrancing, and Congregation summons up the communal vibe of its title. A late-career triumph from a tireless maestro of the saxophone.
Also out this month
Saxophonist Joshua Redman’s recent collaborations with California-born vocalist Gabrielle Cavassa have confirmed this newcomer’s shrewd musicality, intelligence and heart. On Diavola (Blue Note), Redman and guitarist Jeff Parker guest on Cavassa’s originals and audacious remakes, including an intimate Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head, a capricious To Say Goodbye and a private, hypnotic Could It Be Magic. Tehran-born, Vienna-based guitarist Mahan Mirarab unveils a unique sound palette on Unspoken (ACT), playing a double-necked instrument with both fretted and fretless fingerboards to mingle east and west on a fascinating mix of traditional themes and covers including the Joe Zawinul/Miles Davis classic In a Silent Way. And long-running UK ensemble Empirical release Like Lambs: To the Slaughter (Whirlwind), with guests Ivo Neame on piano and David Preston on guitar, joining regulars Nathaniel Facey (alto sax), Tom Farmer (bass), and Shaney Forbes (drums/composition). Yoruba traditions, European chamber music, post-bop and free-improv mingle on this engaging trip across Empirical’s ever-inviting ballpark.
