Recording of the Week, Joe Lovano - Garden of Expression

For Joe Lovano’s latest recording with his group Trio Tapestry, Garden of Expression, the American saxophonist wanted to expand on the contemplative soundworld of the group’s 2019 debut for ECM (the eponymously titled Trio Tapestry). Lovano is no stranger to the power of a solid trio, having been part of the core of drummer Paul Motian’s trio (alongside Bill Frisell) back in the 1980s - appearing on classic recordings like 1982’s Psalm and 1985’s It Should’ve Happened a Long Time Ago, up to more recent recordings with 2006’s Time and Time Again. Though he has decades of bandleading experience under his belt, Lovano’s ECM debut marked the beginning of this particular trio project alongside pianist Marilyn Crispell and drummer Carmen Castaldi. The recording was his first after departing from Blue Note Records, whom he recorded with for the best part of two decades. Lovano is hardly a fresh face to ECM - also being a prominent band member of the late guitarist John Abercrombie’s group - and on the evidence of this new album the union is a happy one.

Lovano wields his usual tenor and soprano saxophones here, but also adds the tárogató for this recording, an instrument with its roots in Hungarian and Romanian folk music. The tárogató can be hard to pick out amongst the tracklist, especially when compared to Lovano’s soprano saxophone which also features on this record, but its more ‘woody’ sound - owing to its similarity to the cor anglais and oboe - grants a more mellow characteristic than the brassy saxophone. That being said, the way Lovano plays the sax with Trio Tapestry is hardly the loud, brassy and bombastic sound you may be used to with sax players. Lovano at times is almost reminiscent of a breathier Jan Garbarek, fellow labelmate responsible for setting the blueprint for ECM saxophonists.

Opening with the quiet and pastoral ‘Chapel Song’, Lovano is particularly conscious of the emptiness in his pieces, which is not to say they have nothing going for them. The track ‘Garden of Expression’ is wide and discordant, but ultimately grounded in his gentle feel and atmosphere. Castaldi’s spacious technique really accentuates Crispell and Lovano’s playing, while also granting the occasional chaotic moments that sense of urgency. ‘Treasured Moments’ is a similarly atmosphere-centered tune, peppered with dashes of tense, lightly dissonant piano while Lovano plays cautiously over it.

Perhaps the most befittingly titled ‘Zen Like’ ends the record with the most meditative piece of the lot. Opening to the sound of clanging gongs, Lovano and co. set the mood for the longest and most open-sounding tune on the record; Crispell’s little drips of the piano’s upper-register and rumbling bass notes are less an accompaniment, rather playing the role of ambience, the trio again playing with space and silence between. ‘Tunes’ feels like a misleading way to describe these pieces. Lovano’s compositions on Garden of Expression suit the record’s title; a collection of modal mood pieces, not necessarily driving as they are free and open, Lovano’s saxophone graceful rather than forceful, a guided tour of his imagined garden.