Lovano's Restless Experiment with Trio Forms
Lovano takes the trio concept beyond horn, bass, and drums, constantly shifting ground beneath the listener's feet.
When Joe Lovano returned to the trio format for Flights of Fancy: Trio Fascination: Edition Two (2000), he did something unexpected. Rather than repeating the formula that worked on the first Trio Fascination record—a conventional saxophone, bass, and drums setup—he decided to keep moving. The album cycles through four different trio configurations, each one pulling the music in a new direction. This is a restless record, the sound of someone unwilling to settle into a groove just because it worked before.
AllMusic reviewer David R. Adler heard what Lovano was doing and gave it four stars, recognizing that this was deliberate experimentation, not uncertainty. Adler noted that listeners expecting the hard-driving swing of the original Trio Fascination would find it here only in smaller doses, and anyone coming from Lovano's neo-bop nonet work ought to expect something very different. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings awarded it three and a half stars. The record didn't arrive as a massive statement—it was more of a sideways move, a working-through of ideas that didn't fit neatly into what people expected from a Joe Lovano trio album.
This is where Lovano stands at this point in his career: past the need to prove anything, comfortable enough with his reputation to take left turns. Edition Two doesn't feel like a peak or a turning point so much as evidence that he's still curious. If you loved the first Trio Fascination, this one will feel deliberately different. If you're new to Lovano, start with a more straightforward album first—something like Quartets: Live at the Village Vanguard (2002)—then come back to this when you want to hear him thinking out loud.
Who's playing
Cameron Brownbass
Mark Dresserbass
Kenny Wernerpiano
Joe Lovanotenor saxophone
Dave Douglastrumpet
Idris Muhammaddrums
Joey Barondrums
Billy Drewespercussion
Toots Thielemansharmonica
Where next?
More by Joe Lovano
All 45 albums →
The musicians on this record
Chez Toots 1998
Toots Thielemans
plays harmonica here
plays harmonica here
Power of Soul 1974
Idris Muhammad
plays drums (drum set) here
plays drums (drum set) here
The Infinite 2002
Dave Douglas
plays trumpet here
plays trumpet here
