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Filling the historic Folly Theatre with brilliant riffs and prolonged melodic concepts, Joe Lovano and Us Five were the latest installment for the Folly Jazz Series. Lovano has a heady, esoteric style of building sound, but his eclectic background meant Saturday’s performance was interspersed with Latin, swing, and bebop influences, allowing for accessible moments throughout the concert. Us Five was comprised of Joe Lovano on saxophones, James Wiedman on piano, Otis Brown III on drums, Steve Williams on drums (that’s right—two drummers!), and Petar Slavov on bass.

Unfortunately, my attention to Lovano and his exceptional line-up of sidemen had to contend with my distracting audience neighbors, who had obviously missed the visual cues that we were not in a club, but a concert performance. The sound in the Folly was also an issue, with subtleties overpowered by muddying volume, balance issues through the amps, and an out-of-tune piano. The group seemed to adapt by the start of the second set and came through much stronger.

The repertoire was pulled primarily from their latest two albums. Bird Songs, released this year, explored new interpretations from the Charlie Parker songbook, and Folk Art, the debut album for the ensemble, was compiled of original Lovano tunes. Their presentation was intriguing in that the group transferred seamlessly from tune to tune, in and out of free improvisation, with musical cues from Lovano. I especially enjoyed the cyclical occurrences of “Folk Art” that laced through the first and second sets, using the melody to lay out a groove that the band then soloed over.

Lovano started out the concert on tenor saxophone with a prolonged overture of sorts, before breaking into a disjointed melodic line full of stark exploration. Motives passed between the members creating an intellectual and atmospheric soundscape, in keeping with Charlie Parker’s legacy of rich harmonic language and virtuoso technique. Lovano stepped to the side, allowing drummers Brown and Williams to duet, trading ideas across the stage. Throughout the concert, the drummers showed considerable constraint and finesse, playing to each other and within solos, alternating the forward voice and rarely overtaking the group. Lovano jumped back in along with the rest of the group for a high-octane blow. Brown laid off the drum set here, using clapping and a Chinese gong for additional timbral effect. As the pace slowed down, the alternating line started to trip over itself, creating a new groove.

For the next portion Lovano switched to a straight alto for a graceful and even keeled piece that showed off his expressive lyrical playing. This gave bassist Slavov his first chance to solo and he displayed an impressive technical prowess, though the amplification continued to overwhelm and hamper the intricacies of the line. Once the other players came in, Slavov’s sound was lost in the muddle. Back on tenor, Lovano played mournfully, backed by scattered melodic snippets from the band as they played a mix of styles and tempos.

The second set started out more audaciously then the first, taking the music farther out, switching styles with frequency, and allowing for more individual moments, too. Lovano played a portion on alto clarinet, giving a tinge of Middle Eastern influence. The group played more with colors in the second half, too, with a duet using brushes from the drummers and bowed bass. Lovano dedicated the ethereal and serene “Mystic” to Japan, a searching melody played on clarinet, bowed bass, and piano accompanied by tintinnabulations of temple bells and rattling shells from Brown and Williams. This sonic setting not only contrasted with the intensity that preceded it, but reaffirms that modern jazz can be challenging and beautiful.

REVIEW:
Folly Jazz Series
Joe Lovano & Us Five
Saturday, April 2, 2011 at 8 pm
Folly Theater
12^th and Central Streets, Kansas City, MO
For more information visit www.follytheatre.org or www.joelovano.com

Top Photo: Joe Lovano (Photo by Jimmy Katz)

By Libby Hanssen

Traditional and New Classical, Theatre Contributor

Libby Hanssen holds degrees from University of Missouri-Kansas City (M.M.) and Ball State University (B.M.) in trombone performance and also studied music education at Indiana University. She has studied trombone with Carl Lenthe, JoDee Davis, John Seidel, John Huntoon and Denis Wick, and music education with Brent Gault, Estelle Jorgensen and Katherine Strand.

While at IU, she taught classes in general music, focusing on listening skills and music fundamentals through practical music usage and exploring new sound constructions. During the course of her studies at UMKC, she performed with many ensembles, including the Conservatory Orchestra and Musica Nova. She has also performed with the Kansas City Puccini Festival, the People's Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City, the New Jazz Order, the Indiana Wind Symphony and the Muncie Symphony Orchestra.

In 2010, she was a fellow (one of 23 journalists selected from across the US) for the seventh annual National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Arts Journalism Institute in Classical Music and Opera at Columbia University’s Journalism School in New York City.

Most of her free time is spent with her three boys (son, dog and husband) and camera, exploring the many fine aspects of Kansas City living. She enjoys listening to KKFI - Kansas City Community Radio and KCUR - Kansas City's NPR station, visiting Kansas City's fine collection of museums and galleries, and scavenging in thrift and antique stores to add to her collection of toy instruments.

She writes for the joy of words and the process of constructing a story, maintaining the blog Proust Eats a Sandwich (www.prousteatsasandwich.wordpress.com). She is working on her first book: Murray Goes to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.