Track Listing

1. Powerhouse
2. Folk Art
3. Wild Beauty
4. Us Five
5. Song for Judi
6. Drum Song
7. Dibango
8. Page 4
9. Ettenro

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #48965 in Music
• Brand: LOVANO,JOE
• Released on: 2009-05-19
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Album Description
JOE LOVANO formed a new band that he calls US FIVE to record Folk Art, his 22nd effort for Blue Note. In the liberated spirit of 1960s avante-garde and 1970s loft scenes -- featuring rising stars Esperanza Spalding on bass, Francisco Mela and Otis Brown III on drums and percussion, and James Weidman on piano -- this is Joe's first album of all original compositions, mixing his native-tongue free jazz elasticity with nuanced Latin grooves and meditative lyricism. The recording captures the edge-of-the-seat group interaction of US5 as the band intuitively interprets Lovano's compositions in a loose and joyous way.

Customer Reviews

Inspired, edgy yet accessible.
A world class player with impeccable credentials and global influence, Lovano returns with a new album and with his new group Us Five, featuring James Weidman on piano, Esperanza Spalding on bass and two drummers, Francisco Mela and Otis Brown III .
A groundbreaking new set from a true master of his craft plus a chance to listen to the bassist/vocal star in the making Esperanza.
The new Lovano album is a considerable contrast to both his last Blue Note release ( "Symphonica") and his outings under the leadership of McCoy Tyner last year.
The material is all by Lovano himself and covers a number of different bases, the opening "Powerhouse" sounding most like a traditional quartet with the drummers mainly alternating, while the title-track has a memorable one-bar riff.
"Song for Judi," with pianist James Weidman's old-time intro, becomes soaring and beautiful (Lovano is married to singer Judi Silvano), while "Drum Song" begins with gongs and has a hide-and-seek melody that cavorts with the set's two drummers, Francisco Mela and Otis Brown III, who mysteriously complement each other.
Recorded in December 2008 after playing at the legendary Village Vanguard, it is a complex and entertaining listen. John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman are reference points, but this is a loose, hand-drawn route, not an Ordnance Survey map.
"Dibango" is near seven minutes worth of beauty. A tribute to the legendary Cameroonian jazz saxophonist Manu Dibango, it features Lovano harmonising with himself on aulochrome, a double soprano sax complete with a keyboard. "Ettenro" (spell it backwards), a wriggling yet folksy Ornettish tune, is a suitably abstract yet sufficiently gentle end to this sweetly complex album.
The nine original compositions of "Folk Art" underline what a treasure to the jazz world Lovano remains. The young cats are providing exactly the appropriate stimulus to the sax legend.
"Folk Art" also represents a new touring group, in which a quartet line-up is enlivened by two very un-cliché-prone performers on piano and bass and by the sometimes simultaneous use of two very different percussionists:the quintet is slightly different from anything else you've heard.
"Saxophonist Joe Lovano's new CD is an artful one. It requires big ears to take in this set of nine originals, but Lovano, one of the music's reigning reed players, can swing between squeaking free jazz and hard swing rooted in the jazz tradition - sometimes in the same tune. "Wild Beauty" has that free thing going in spades, although here, too, it's yoked to a swinging bottom. And "Us Five" sounds old and new at the same time. Its pedigree seems classic bebop, but it breaks the old strictures and comes out newfangled and snarling.
Smoky atmospherics abound on the title track, typical of the new-and-old synthesis
that Lovano, 56, pulls off". - Karl Stark
"Lovano pulls no punches here, but his lyrical instincts are also strong. 'Folk Art' remains as accessible as its title implies it ought to be". - John Fordham
Symphonica
Esperanza

Joe Lovano in "artsy" mode
Joe Lovano pulls in an experienced pianist, James Weidman, and a young rhythm section of Esperanza Spalding on bass, and Otis Brown and Francisco Mela on drums for "Folk Art". Unfortunately, the mix puts the bass and drums in the back, so even though they're doing good stuff back there, you don't tend to notice without focusing on it. The good news is that Lovano is in fine form, and Weidman is very good. The songs are all originals, and mostly good. Lovano resists the urge to be too crowd-pleasing and plays in a way to reward some concentration. One exception is "Dibango", which features the aulochrome, a horn with a buzzy, distinctive tone. The melody gives instant gratification, in contrast to the more cerebral stuff. This is very solid, serious, mainstream jazz worth recommending.

A variety of feels from a jazz master
Joe Lovano is a modern jazz master, combining the forms and feels of his great predecessors with his own swinging, free jazz, wailing improvisations. In this, his 22nd Blue Note album, he has assembled a new group with whom he jams on a variety of instruments - sax, clarinet, gongs, etc. Still, I'd say it's more an exploration of feels than of sounds. The title track Folk Art (tk 2), for instance, starts with a great vamp for first three minutes, followed by tempered drum solo, devolves into a more traditional swing feel, and ends up back on the vamp. On Us Five (tk 4), Lovano shows off his stunning control of the saxophone, producing muted wails over fast-tempo, dissonant changes. Song For Judi (tk 5) feels like the background music at a fancy department store while Dibango (tk 7) has a funkier, African feel. All around, a solid set.