Joe Lovano ~ Saxophonist & Composer

I wrote all the music for my first Blue Note recording, except I Love Music, by Emile Boyd, an important part of the Cleveland music scene.

A few words about Bill Stewart: I was on the faculty of William Patterson College, from 1983-91, and Bill Stewart was one of my students. Musically, he was into creating inner forms within the structures of what we were playing. So I started using him in my woodwind ensemble. I was playing in John Scofield’s group at the time. and he produced this CD. John and I met at Berklee and I’ve had the chance to play and record with him a number of times and it’s always a great exchange of ideas.

" Although the title of this CD makes it sound as if tenor-saxophonist Joe Lovano was performing veteran jazz classics on… read more" " Although the title of this CD makes it sound as if tenor-saxophonist Joe Lovano was performing veteran jazz classics on this date, all but one of the ten songs played by his quintet are actually Lovano originals. With strong assistance provided by guitarist John Abercrombie, pianist Ken Werner, bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Bill Stewart, Lovano often sounds like a mixture of Dewey Redman and early John Coltrane on his enjoyable set. His music has enough variety to hold one’s interest, Abercrombie is in particularly strong form and Lovano is consistently creative during the modern mainstream music." Scott Yanow, All Music Guide