Strictly Jazz Sounds Interview
Grammy Award winning tenor saxophonist and composer Joe Lovano joins Steve Braunginn for an expansive conversation about artistic growth, jazz history and his new ECM recording, Paramount Quartet.
Listen to the interview below and click here for more info
DownBeat: The Moment is Now!
"Lovano feels all tempos within every tempo, yet paradoxically — given the anticipatory chromatic barrage heralding his sonic gambits — a chill, groove-compliant composure pervades. The combination renders Lovano’s delivery uncommonly hip and tour-de-force, but never over-egged or egregious."
Click here to read the full interview with DownBeat
Guardian Jazz Album of the Month
"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."
Click here to read the full review in The Guardian.
ECM Podcast
In the 68th episode of the ECM podcast we’re joined by sax player Joe Lovano on the occasion of his latest quartet album Paramount Quartet. Joe talks about magic, connection, trust and more.
Listen below or click here to stream the podcast on your platform of choice.
Paramount Quartet Out Now + "First Song" Video
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WBGO Podcast
Had a nice chat with WBGO's Brian Delp about my upcoming gigs at SMOKE Jazz Club with my Quartet and at New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) with Coltrane 100. Check it out!
Birthday Retrospective
A mighty big thank you to Bill Milkowski for this amazing retrospective of my career!
"Lovano, through the influence of his own father, the Cleveland bebop-inspired tenor saxophonist Tony “Big T” Lovano, was privvy to a lot of such old school wisdom. And his knowledge explanded after arriving in New York in 1980. A quintessential “cat,” Lovano always exuded a hip ethos, both in word and wardrobe. And he wore it well."
Click here to read the full piece
At the Top of the World with Joe Lovano
On the 78th floor of Frank Gehry’s sculptural tower in Lower Manhattan, the evening light spilled across the harbor. The Statue of Liberty stood in quiet witness as guests gathered in the Consul General’s penthouse, welcomed by Ambassador Helle Meinertz. It was a setting where architecture, music, and Danish design could meet in rare harmony — elevated in every sense.
Into this space walked Joe Lovano. The legendary GRAMMY-winning saxophonist and ECM recording artist, whose sound has shaped contemporary jazz for decades, carried with him the immediacy of live performance. His playing filled the room — intimate, searching, resonant — and then gave way to listening. Together, we heard the just-released TCA Private Vault session from the May 2024 Rudy Van Gelder Studio session with Lovano, Sam Yahel, and Kresten Osgood.
Go With Elmo podcast
Check out my interview with my cousin Elmo on his podcast, Go With Elmo. This was our first time ever doing something like this together. A 3-hour deep dive interview that covers (nearly) his entire career. We go into our family history, growing up in Cleveland, our Sicilian roots, my father Tony “Big T” Lovano, and how that shaped my sound and spirit. We talk about my time with Elvin Jones, Jack DeJohnette, John Scofield, Charlie Haden, Esperanza Spalding, Michael Brecker, McCoy Tyner, Paul Motian, Bill Frisell, Hank Jones, Dave Holland, Joshua Redman, Al Foster, and many more. I reflected on decades of leading bands, developing tone, mentoring young players, and living a full creative life with my wife of 50 years, Judi Silvano.