Grammy-winning saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Joe Lovano has joined up with Marilyn Crispell and Carmen Castaldi for another Trio Tapestry album.
Garden of Expression follows the trio’s critically acclaimed 2019 record, one of that year’s most talked-about jazz releases. That album was Lovano’s first as a leader for ECM Records.
The new recording features eight of Lovano’s original compositions. He plays both tenor and soprano sax as well as the tarogato, with Crispell on the piano and Castaldi on the drums.
Listen to the title track below.
According to ECM, Garden of Expression is “distinguished by its intense focus,” played with freedom, intimacy and spirituality. The group achieves that not only through Lovano’s increasing pursuit of sensitivity and ethereal tones, but through the trio context and the interplay between the musicians.
“Carmen Castaldi’s space-conscious approach to drumming further refines an improvisational understanding that he and Lovano have shared since the 1970s,” the label says of the recording. “The trio is also a wonderful context for Marilyn Crispell’s solos, counter melodies, and improvisational embellishments, and her feeling for sound-colour helps the chamber music character of the group to flower.”
Garden of Expression is Lovano’s 30th album as a leader, and he has many more under his belt as a co-leader or sideman.
Lovano got his start in the early ’80s as the saxophonist in John Scofield’s quartet. He released his debut solo album Tones, Shapes & Colors in 1985 and won a Grammy Award for his record 52nd Street Themes in 2000.
Garden of Expression is out Jan. 29 via ECM.