Trio Fascination - Edition One

Joe Lovano | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 8, 1998)
• Original Release Date: September 8, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Blue Note Records
• ASIN: B000009EA6
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #56,282 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #57 in Music > Indie Music > Jazz > Modern Post Bop

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

One of the brightest tenor players on the jazz scene today, Joe Lovano has been recording as a band leader since 1990. While Lovano has played in a variety of interesting contexts since signing to the Blue Note label, Trio Fascination finds the saxophonist in superb company with bassist Dave Holland and drummer Elvin Jones. Performing original material except for the standard Ghost of a Chance, the talented threesome stretches out musically and engages in some particularly impassioned playing. Spanning a wide variety of moods and emphasizing the sonic possibilities of a trio setting, this disc displays Lovano as a true master of improvisation. Playing soprano, alto, and tenor, Lovano possesses a clear tone, and his ideas are plentiful. An excellent vehicle for all three musicians. --Mitch Myers

From Jazziz

This title sounds like a Steven Speilberg DreamWorks project, with a sequel already in the works. Coming on the heels of Lovano's slightly overcooked Sinatra tribute, one might worry that Lovano had once again gone high-concept. Three songs into the first listen of this splendid recording, however, all fears vanish. Saxophonist Lovano, bassist Dave Holland, and drummer Elvin Jones really do sound fascinated by their triangulated interactions. And if there's a sequel in the works, we should all be very happy about it.

Few jazz men have produced a better set of recordings in the past decade than Lovano. He has made straight bop sound free and free jazz sound straight. He has embued his work with clarity, depth, and originality. His voice is powerful yet sensitive, swinging yet introspective. And his tone is just plain gorgeous.

The trio calls upon the ghosts of John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis, and Sam Rivers, but the sound is, nevertheless, entirely their own. On "Ghost of a Chance," Lovano's big, fat Ben Webster/Coleman Hawkins attack is a beautiful gift - boxed by Holland's supple bass and wrapped in the silky ribbon of Jones' beautiful brush work. The rest of the tunes on the disc are Lovano originals, and they jump nicely from swing to bop to ballad, with some powerful open spaces in between.

--- Jonathan Eig, JAZZIZ Magazine Copyright © 2000, Milor Entertainment, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Three brilliant players playing brilliant compositions, August 13, 1999

By 

Ivan Liu ([e-mail]) (Newcastle-upon-Tyne,UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trio Fascination - Edition One (Audio CD)

Before I listened to the record I wasn't confident about it, purely due to the fact that there is no chordal instruments, such as guitar or piano. But Dave Holland's double bass-playing definitely makes the back ground music fluent and coherent with Lovano's sax-playing, who is simply a natural modern postbopper that turns his sax into a killing machine---you either feel relaxed or go completely MAD with him! Elvin Jones can always put the strong accent at the right position to enpower the music, and he plays with style !!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful!!, November 21, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Trio Fascination - Edition One (Audio CD)

I have always loved Tenor, bass and drum trios, and this one is exceptional. All three musicians have their ears wide open. I think Dave Holland has to be particulary singled out as he is not playing the "traditional role" of a bass player. He is playing more "colors" than straight time, which opens up Joe and Elvin to be more free. The interplay between Elvin and Joe is particlulary frightening. Being a drummer myself, I am also very impressed with the recording quality of the drums. Elvin has his drums tuned up high to sound more melodic and too many times, know nothing engineers have a tough time dealing with that and try to flatten the sound out. This is particularly apparent in the tuning of the small 18" bass drum that Elvin plays. I recommend this release to anyone, but it would be at it's most valuable to student jazz musicians as a wonderful learning tool in the realm of trio playing.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not the best stuff out there, but..., September 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Trio Fascination - Edition One (Audio CD)

Joe Lovano has, of course, received an enormous amount of hype over the last few years. So is it deserved? Yes and no. He's not the next Sonny Rollins as some have claimed (but who is, really?), and in fact he isn't a major innovator at all. There are other improvising musicians out there who are forging new paths in ways Lovano doesn't even hint at. Just because he isn't reinventing the wheel, however, doesn't detract from the fact that he's one of the most distinctive saxophone stylists in the modern mainstream (and, despite what many have said, he is thoroughly mainstream rather than avant-garde). This is one of his strongest albums, because it features him doing a lot of what he does best: blowing. That's right, no high concepts, no large ensembles, just Lovano's four horns and two of the best rhythm men in the history of jazz. The reflective "Sanctuary Park" is just about worth the price of the album. If you're looking to get into Lovano's work, this is as good a place as any to start.