Jakob Bro & Joe Lovano pay tribute to Paul Motian in Once Around the Room — album review

The late American drummer Paul Motian’s balance of freedom and form underscored an elliptic pulse with a strong sense of purpose and time. Jakob Bro and Joe Lovano’s compelling tribute captures that floaty urgency by using a double rhythm section bolstered by an additional bass guitar. The fluid rhythms, sensitive interplay and misty textures remain, but a sharper attack and greater urgency offer something new.

Both leaders are steeped in Motian’s music — US saxophonist Lovano spent almost three decades in the drummer’s trio with guitarist Bill Frisell; Danish guitarist Bro made his ECM debut on Motian’s Garden of Eden in 2006. This album was recorded in Copenhagen, in November 2021 exactly a decade after Motian’s death. It finds Lovano and Bro in fine form, drawing on the collective energy of two drummers and two double basses working as one.

The set opens with a thrum of double basses and sparse rattles and taps from a duo of drums. Foundation secure, the theme of Lovano’s “As it Should Be” enters, built on a 12-tone scale with lead notes hovering slightly behind the beat. As the track progresses, cushions of electric guitar add resonance and Lovano’s purposeful lines end in a quizzical slur. The sparse through-improvised “Sound Creation” comes next, with roles swapped, a gathering sense of climax and a final fading note. And then “For the Love of Paul”, another Lovano original, captures the original Motian aesthetic to a T.

The second half of the album bookends a one-time Motian set-closer with two drum-free pieces by Bro. Both “Song to an Old Friend” and “Pause” are gentle in tone and, on the latter, Bro’s guitar develops a hint of country twang. Here the mood is poignant and bassists Larry Grenadier and Thomas Morgan knit together perfectly underneath. In contrast, “Drum Music” is guttural and raw. Drummers Joey Baron and Jorge Rossy swap short side-drum rolls and sharp cymbal splashes before rumbling meaningfully under Lovano’s fiery tenor sax abstractions.

★★★★☆

‘Once Around the Room: A Tribute to Paul Motian’ is released by ECM