JOE LOVANO — Homage (review)

JOE LOVANO — Homage album cover Album · 2025 · Post Bop Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
snobb
"Homage" is the first studio album by seasoned US reeds player Joe Lovano as a leader in twelve years. Lovano plays here with the Polish Marcin Wasilewski trio, and the album is a logical continuation of their previous collaborative work, released by the same German ECM label five years ago —"Arctic Riff," recorded by the Marcin Wasilewski trio, where Joe Lovano participated as a guest.

Joe Lovano needs no introduction; he played with Paul Motian, Bill Frisell, John Abercrombie, John Zorn, and many others for decades. Also, he is a true ambassador of American jazz in Europe as well.

The Marcin Wasilewski trio is synonymous with the big success of modern Polish jazz in the international scene. Their debut album (still under the name of "Simple Acoustic Trio") has been released on the most prestigious European label, ECM. Since then, they released six more albums on the same label, played as part of Tomasz Stanko Quartet, recording his albums "Soul Of Things", "Suspended Night", "Lontano", and "September Night"(on the same ECM label). The Trio's albums are all well-received as a quality example of contemporary European chamber jazz.

Differently from the previous album, "Arctic Riff", where almost all compositions came from Marcin Wasilewski/trio, "Homage" is a true Lovano album. He wrote all but one composition here (the only exception is opener, "Love In The Garden", written by renowned Polish violinist Zbigniew Seifert).

Musically, the album contains a perfectly balanced mix between the slightly melancholic European chamber sound of the Polish trio, and the more groovy, energetic, and a bit freer Lovano tenor.

On predominantly mid-tempo album compositions, Lovano's sax is soulful and sometimes lyrical, as often on his recordings, but still, it's him pushing the music ahead and adding a lot of blood to the quartet music. Different from many ECM recordings coming from the northern Baltic and the Nordics, "Homage" isn't as sterile, it contains some renowned Polish jazz "melancholic" feel, but thanks to Lovano, sounds a bit like a connection between ECM's continental European sound and the label's contemporary New York adventurous scene. Still, very much a classical quality ECM album, concerning tradition and quite a modern sound.

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