Joe Lovano Quartet lights fire at Tanglewood, 9/4/98

by Seth Rogovoy

(LENOX , Mass., Sept 6, 1998) -- The Joe Lovano Quartet kicked off the weekend jazz festival in Ozawa Hall with the sort of exciting, in-the-moment improvisation that characterizes jazz at its best and which is seen all too rarely at Tanglewood.

Lovano's group was both tightly controlled and musically loose and freewheeling, allowing the soloists to compose on-the-spot while the ensemble retained the swinging feel and the harmonic framework of the individual tunes.

Lovano kicked off his set with "Fort Worth," one of his signature tunes, on which he alternated bebop lines with ascending and descending arpeggios, occasionally stopping to explore a particular riff he liked or stumbled upon.

In the first of several demonstrations of the intuitive sympathy that existed among the players in Lovano's group, Lovano laid out while pianist Kenny Werner echoed his solo, constructing his own statement out of block chords and favored riffs.

Lovano gave himself a workout on the second number, "Alexander the Great," which showcased his burnished tone, all elasticity and warmth, in the service of suggestively bent and slurred notes. Werner's accompaniment was particularly attuned to the rhythms laid down by drummer Idris Muhammad, with all his notes seemingly landing in the spaces the drummer carefully left open for him.

The tune also showcased bassist Cameron Brown, who although relatively dwarfed by his stand-up instrument played it with such force that it kept popping up into the air. Muhammad also took an eloquent solo consisting mostly of taps on the high-hat and a dynamic display of the power of pauses or rests -- the sort of jolting, surprising silences that made the number a feast of tension and release.

Lovano displayed his lyrical side on the Frank Sinatra tune, "I'm a Fool to Want You," singing through his instrument with a Sinatra-like wooziness, caressing and rounding the individual notes.

Werner and Lovano have been playing together for over two decades, and their affinity was amply evident on the new Lovano composition, "Sanctuary Park." Werner introduced the number with an impressionistic bed of chords upon which Lovano built the dreamy tune.

It was the final number, however, "Modern Man," which pushed the set into overdrive, the full ensemble working together to paint a sort of apocalyptic soundtrack of fiery alarm. Muhammad's military-style snare rolls, Werner's full-forearm blasts of industrial noise and Lovano's siren-like honks reached a crescendo of power and emotion the likes of which will be long-remembered by those who had the fortitude to stay the course.

Pianist Cyrus Chestnut opened the evening with what turned out to be the yin to Joe Lovano's yang. A traditionalist by style and temperament, as well as an entertainer, Chestnut -- backed by a drummer and bassist -- played a crowd-pleasing set of standards and originals that showcased his Erroll Garner-like, orchestral approach to his instrument.

At several points during his set, Chestnut said his modest goal was "to put a smile" on his listeners' faces, and that he did with his virtuoso display of technique, ranging from the two-handed staccato melody playing on "It's All Right with Me" to the Bach-meets-ragtime of "You and the Night and the Music" to the lush ornamentation on his original ballad, "Elegant Flower" to the neo-stride of "Nutman's Inventions No. 2" to the Jules Massenet-meets-Ray Charles medley of "Elegy" and "Hit the Road, Jack."

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