Joe Lovano: Duke Ellington Sound of Love

This ballad is a late Mingus composition, which the bassist recorded in two versions (an instrumental as well as vocal featuring Jackie Paris) on his double-LP Changes project for Atlantic. I am not sure why more people don't play this lovely tune, which (despite the title) is much closer to Strayhorn than to Ellingtonyou might even call it Mingus's "Lush Life."

But Joe Lovano is no stranger to these changes, having covered the piece on his must-have live recording from the Village Vanguard. Yet this new version is completely fresh and different, featuring a very intelligent arrangement by Michael Abene. The intro is haunting and only gets better when Lovano enters in an attenuated dialogue with the orchestra. The rhythm section arrives 1½ minutes into the piece, but Abene uses it sparingly and to good effect. The textures and rhythmic sensibility are constantly shifting on this lengthy performance, and Lovano navigates through all of it with perfection. While I am usually wary of attempts to pair jazz sax with strings, Lovano shows here (as on his earlier Rush Hour project, a modern masterpiece in my opinion) that he handles this type of setting as well as any living jazz horn player.