Joe Lovano’s Us Five - Bird Songs
Blue Note, 2011
Joe Lovano and his Us Five, the mostly
young and all-talented band that’s been together for a few years
now, offer a meditation on the work of Charlie Parker in Lovano's
22nd album for Blue Note, Bird Songs. In excellent
form, Us Five follows up on 2009’s Folk Art
and 2010 awards
from the JJA and the Downbeat Critics Poll with an unexpectedly
relaxed consideration of Bird tunes.
and 2010 awards
from the JJA and the Downbeat Critics Poll with an unexpectedly
relaxed consideration of Bird tunes.
A
recording of this nature – a major contemporary tenor playing the
work of a bebop legend – does not escape Lovano, who has written
about the project: “Putting this recording together I kept
wondering how Bird would have developed within these tunes, not just
as the incredible soloist that he was but as an arranger and band
leader. From what we know about him it is clear that he was into the
world of music beyond so called Jazz and Be Bop and I’m sure we
would have all been surprised at every turn in his approach just as
we were with Miles, Coltrane, Rollins and Coleman, four of his most
distinguished and celebrated disciples.”
The
US Five lineup finds Lovano joined by recent Grammy winner Esperanza
Spalding
on bass and James Weidman
on piano, and features two
drummers -- Otis Brown III and Francisco Mela
. As one might expect,
the possibility exists for the double-drumming to become a clattering
distraction, but both Brown and Mela stay away from the lower and
louder timbres of their kits and spend much of their time working the
cymbals in very careful interplay. Each drummer is mixed to his own
side of the recording – left or right – and headphone listening
will immediately reward the percussion-minded.
on bass and James Weidman on piano, and features two
drummers -- Otis Brown III and Francisco Mela. As one might expect,
the possibility exists for the double-drumming to become a clattering
distraction, but both Brown and Mela stay away from the lower and
louder timbres of their kits and spend much of their time working the
cymbals in very careful interplay. Each drummer is mixed to his own
side of the recording – left or right – and headphone listening
will immediately reward the percussion-minded.
The manner in which this music is mixed
and mastered takes a bit of adjustment, with the tenor and drums most
prominent across the sound space, the bass and piano down under. I
found myself repeatedly turning up the volume to hear the piano and
bass, which made the percussion and sax all the more prominent. It
appears that the rhythmic qualities of the playing are a feature
Lovano wants to make more obvious. Overall, the album sounds light,
airy, and rhythmically dense – an all the more notable contrast
with Bird's playing, which was often intense, solid, and harmonically
complex.
The album's first tune, “Passport,”
opens with a fanfare of sorts – a rising phrase alternating with a
suspenseful low vamp – that builds tension before the band's entry
into Bird land. The rest of the song is a moderately paced take on
the familiar “I Got Rhythm” changes, save for a couple of
rip-snorting choruses, when Lovano plays not just fast but a little
outside the changes. The usually brisk “Donna Lee” becomes a
ballad in Lovano's reworking, and although the Brown and Mela sound
at times as if they want to go galloping off, Lovano always keeps the
phrasing drawn-out and the tempo thoughtful.
The lilting “Barbados” makes the
most of Spalding’s facility with Caribbean rhythms, with the
drummers working very nicely off each other and Lovano having fun
with the earthier tones his horn can produce. The playfulness
continues on “Moose the Mooche,” taken here at a slower pace,
with the feeling of walking the bar, hanging on a single bluesy riff
of the melody while Lovano explores some fine post-bop ideas.
The bright ballad “Lover Man” is a
bit more recognizable in tempo and arrangement, and features some of
Lovano's most lyrical playing. On a tune where two drummers could be
most disruptive and distracting, Mela and Brown show great taste and
restraint. Spalding and Weidman do their best solo work on this tune,
one of the strongest on the album. If you want to hear how Us Five
swing best from bar to bar and phrase to phrase, this is the tune to
listen to.
After this point, the explorations
become more notable. “Birdyard” is distinguished by Lovano on the
aulochrome (the double-soprano sax), heard over a simple descending
vamp. “Ko Ko” is simply Lovano and his drummers, finding bits
and pieces of the tune in a primarily rhythmic context; interesting
listening, but nothing to get your toe-tapping. A counterpoint to
this is “Blues Collage,” Lovano just with piano and bass, a brief
exploration of many of Parker's riffs played in a clever, layered
jazz round. “Dexterity,” another short tune, begins with the
instruments in disparate places, then works its way back to a
familiar form.
The last two tracks are the most
ambitious. “Dewey Square,” stretching over eight minutes, is at
times a familiar recasting of Parker's original, while at other it
breaks down completely into a free, open form. Even more generous is
“Yardbird Suite,” stretched out over almost 12 minutes, opening
like a dream, with a raucous uptempo center, and a return to a lush
ending. At this point, listener's will hopefully have made the
adjustments to the band's deconstruction and reconstruction of
Parker's tunes, and the music should carry them along just fine.
Joe
Lovano - Saxophones
James Weidman - Piano
Esperanza Spalding - Bass
Otis Brown III - Drums
Francisco Mela - Drums
James Weidman - Piano
Esperanza Spalding - Bass
Otis Brown III - Drums
Francisco Mela - Drums
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