Joe Lovano at Miner Auditorium, March 15, 2019

SFJAZZ presents Joe Lovano's Trioism-Double Bill featuring Trio Tapestry with Carmen Castaldi & Marilyn Crispell, and Trio Fascination with Bill Frisell & Tyshawn Sorey
Robert M. Miner Auditorium
SFJAZZ Center, 205 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA
7:30 PM, Friday, March 15, 2019

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[7:32 PM; lights down, greetings and announcements; Trio Tapestry opens the gig; Joe lays out the plan]

1. [7:34 PM] Tarrassa
2. [7:40 PM] Seeds of Change
3. [7:44 PM] Rare Beauty
4. [7:50 PM] One Time In
5. [7:56 PM] Piano/Drum Episode
6. [8:00 PM] Spirit Lake
7. [8:03 PM] Sparkle Lights
8. [8:06 PM] The Smiling Dog
   [8:12 PM; pause for applause; drop CC, MC; add BF, TS; Joe lays out the new plan for Trio Fascination]
9. [8:14 PM] the Call
10. [8:30 PM] Le Petit Opportune
    [8:42 PM; pause for applause; JL brings CC and MC back onstage to join the others for a pair of Paul Motian covers]
11. [8:44 PM] Conception Vessel »
12. [9:01 PM] Dance
    [9:03 PM; show ends, no encore]

• Carmen Castaldi: drums, percussion;
• Marilyn Crispell: piano;
• Bill Frisell: guitar;
• Joe Lovano: tenor saxophone, alto clarinet, gongs;
• Tyshawn Sorey: drums, exhortations.

I haven't been following Lovano's career all that closely – my conception was that he was too much a part of the New York Hard Bop contingent to really stimulate my fancy. Not that I disliked his work, on the contrary, I was happy to hear it now and then. Only that it didn't grab my fancy enough for me to keep track of his every step.

So I show up to tonight's gig and am astonished and surprised to hear him playing “out” jazz instead of the bop I'd expected. Cool! Of course, if I'd been a better fan, I would have listened to the Trio Tapestry album in advance. Note to self: prep work is a good idea!

Anyways, I thought the opening mini-set from Trio Tapestry started out a little tentative … as if the players needed five or ten minutes to relax and get themselves into the flow, but once that happened, zip zoom blast off! WOW! They were playing really great stuff. I probably have the song order messed up (or they didn't play it in the order that Joe announced), but according to my notes, during the latter portion of Piano/Drum Episode, Joe performed a duet with himself, playing saxophone and gongs. Haven't seen that before!

For the following tune, Joe swapped to clarinet. From my vantage point, it looked to be a little larger/longer than a standard B♭ soprano, but it was straight, rather than curved or bent. Maybe it was a Basset horn instead?

I was especially enraptured during the middle portion of the show: the Trio Fascination segment. It was really cool to watch the interplay between the musicians – all seemed to be listening hard, making space for the others to state a musical point, then responding or harmonizing or framing a counterposition once the opportunity arose. It's funny to think that this trio performed only two long songs compared to the 8 tunes from the first trio. Different approaches to the same goal?

Having both groups play for the finale was a nice treat, but I was expecting something a bit longer than 15 minutes. Greedy? Yeah, sure, but when the music-making is that good, why not keep it going?

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2019 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2019 event list! ☸ On to the next event!