On Tuesday night, I went to see the Joe Lovano Quartet at the Village Vanguard. The group was Lovano on tenor (he brought his soprano out but didn't use it), Kenny Werner on piano, Dennis Irwin on bass, and Yoron Israel on drums. Since I got there early, I was sitting at the very front of the club, perhaps six feet from where Joe was playing.
Joe started the set by saying that he was happy to be back playing at his favorite place to play jazz. The set consisted of:
Topsy-Turvy (composed by Joe L.) I'm a Fool to Want you (composed by ?) Work (Thelonious Monk) A Flower is a Lovesome Thing (Billy Strayhorn) Paradox (Sonny Rollins)
The first, third, and fifth tunes were played up tempo. I was particularly thrilled by the breakneck pace and great solos on the very first tune; no "warm up set" for these pros. There were many highlights to the set, including a wonderful duet segment with Israel on "Work", Kenny Werner's bluesy solo on "Flower", and Joe's extraordinarily sensitive,but distinctly adventurous and Lovano-esque, solo on "Flower" (one of my favorite Strayhorn tunes). As you can imagine, I was delighted to hear Monk and Strayhorn back-to-back - the only thing that could have topped it would have been a string of Monk-Strayhorn-Mingus. Joe was in superb form throughout, with his characteristic mix of old-fashioned tenor crooning (esp. on "Fool"), Coltrane-inspired passion, full use of the tenor's range, and his own distinctive vocabulary of sounds. I fully expected a great set, and wasn't disappointed.
Yoron Israel was a revelation. A late 20's-early 30's black man, he played with a smile and a style that brought to mind Billy Higgins. His time, dynamics, and taste were great. He was equally good at fueling the fire behind Joe on "Topsy-Turvy" and "Paradox" and comping sensitively behind Werner on "Flower". He was also a charming guy to talk with after the set.
Joe was also fun to chat with, and I got a nice autograph on my copy of the liner notes to his "Quartets: Live at the VV" CD. His leg is almost fully healed (he broke it badly this summer, and was using a brace as recently as October).