Album
Homage
Recorded Unable to verify from provided sources · ECM · Produced by Unable to verify from provided sources
Lovano Steps Into the Trio's World
A saxophonist known for heavy hitting finds unexpected freedom in collective restraint.
Homage is the second time Joe Lovano recorded with the Marcin Wasilewski Trio on ECM, and it captures something that doesn't happen often in his discography: he's not leading. The trio has its own language, developed over years of playing together, and Lovano enters that space rather than imposing his own. His tone — gruff and direct, the sound that defined records like Solid Steps — is still recognizably his, but here it's deployed with restraint. He's listening more than asserting.
What makes this work is that the trio doesn't back away from him. Instead of Lovano softening to fit a quiet aesthetic, there's a genuine conversation happening. Wasilewski's piano sets the harmonic territory, and Lovano threads through it with fine timing and a lighter touch than you'd expect from someone with his reputation. The moods shift — sometimes introspective, sometimes propulsive — but there's an unhurried quality throughout. Mike Hobart of Jazzwise captured this well: the "inner pulse and interweaving lines" create something that feels both assured and exploratory. This isn't Lovano trying on someone else's voice. It's him recognizing that playing with a collective that already knows its own sound can actually free him up.
Sebastion Scotney of The Arts Desk noted the distance between this and Lovano's earlier work, calling it a place where he plays with "remarkable spontaneity and freedom." That's accurate, though it's a specific kind of freedom — not the freedom to dominate, but the freedom to contribute without needing to carry the weight. By this point in his career, Lovano had earned the confidence to do that.
