Joe Lovano’s Trio Tapestry review — an exhilarating set at Ronnie Scott’s

The subtle weave that Joe Lovano’s Trio Tapestry created on their two ECM albums made for a demanding and at times exhilarating second-house set at Ronnie Scott’s. New material was in the mix — the band shortly begins recording a third album — and saxophonist Lovano and pianist Marilyn Crispell are especially spirited and gifted improvisers.

The recordings present the trio as equal musical partners but, at this gig, drummer Carmen Castaldi’s spacious pings and taps played a decorative role that embellished texture rather than fuelled the pulse. Duets and brief solos put him centre stage, but for the most part the evening’s focus was the close musical relationship between piano and sax and Lovano’s tonal control and advanced technique.

Lovano is one of jazz’s most distinctive voices. Here he mostly played tenor sax, drawing the audience in with a rich, breathy lower register and an upper register that was airy and light. He swooped and slurred from high to low with ease, legacy phrases came as syncopated snippets and long lines ended with quizzical sustains. Pianist Crispell also has a strong personal voice and complemented Lovano’s lucid, imaginative lines with her firm touch.

The evening started with an up-tempo reading of “Tarrassa” from Trio Tapestry’s self-titled debut release. Here, the short angular phrases were delivered in unison by piano and sax and Lovano added throwaway phrases as they unfolded at speed. “One for Charlie” came next, dedicated to the late bassist Charlie Haden. Drummer Castaldi emphasised the composition’s long melodic contours on brushes, while a loose-skinned bass drum punctuated Crispell’s percussive, folk-fuelled piano.

The performance’s first ballad came three numbers in with the ruminative “Chapel Song” from Garden of Expression, the trio’s second CD. As the bittersweet melody unfolded, each phrase seemed laced with a sense of regret, a mood sustained first by sax and then by piano.

Later in the set, the meditative “Treasured Moments”, from the same CD, found Lovano channelling John Coltrane and switching to the Hungarian tárogató, which looks and sounds like a cross between clarinet and soprano sax; piano and drums built the piece from a single-note drone.

Elsewhere, the single-note leaps of “Power of Three” were supported by scampers of piano and a jaunty air launched a dazzling dialogue between Crispell’s left hand and right; Castaldi’s solo delivered elliptic pings and spaced rolls on cymbal and snare.

The evening’s final third continued to switch tempo and mood. “29” was angular, fast-paced and moved to abstraction, and rich piano romance was followed by an African-inflected musical panorama inspired by a visit to Lagos. The encore, “Giving Thanks”, was brief, played in unison and deserved.

★★★★☆

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