Scandal is a masterful example of musical discourse dedicated to making the most of the powers and pleasures of tradition-infused improvised jazz.

By Steve Feeney

It’s been over twenty years since the great New Yorker jazz critic Whitney Balliett proclaimed Joe Lovano to be a “savior” because of his resistance to the growing trend among younger saxophonists to embrace “overweening wooden tones” and a “prosy” approach to the music.

Balliett was writing in appraisal of several Lovano releases of the time, including Quartets, an essential set of live recordings from 1994 with the saxophonist fronting a pair of foursomes. That album featured one of Lovano’s better foils, trumpeter Tom Harrell. One wishes that we could hear much more from that partnering.

Jump ahead: the 65-year-old sax man from Cleveland continues to convincingly preach jazz salvation in a disc that, arguably, has him performing with his second greatest frontline bandmate, 55-year-old trumpeter Dave Douglas.

Scandal (Greenleaf Music) is the first studio recording by Sound Prints, the Lovano/Douglas-led quintet. Preceding it was a live recording that established the group’s deep affection for the work of Wayne Shorter, a recognized master of the modern era for his original compositions as much as his playing.

Scandal proffers arrangements (one each by Lovano and Douglas) of a couple of Shorter tunes. But it’s the originals from the leaders that provide a particularly engaging (and challenging) entrée into the current state of an improvised music. These performances are as much felt as conceptualized (somewhat scandalous, given the musical mindset of the present).

Douglas’s “Dream State” starts things off with a segment of loose counterpoint from the leaders. The tune soon expands as the rest of the band (Lawrence Fields on piano, Linda May Han Oh on bass, and Joey Baron on drums)  expand and elaborate on the conversation. The approach gently establishes the dependably dexterous interplay among individual players and the group’s collective voice: a sweet melody is taken through a series of rubato passages.

Dave Douglas and Joe Lovano. Photo: Merrick Winter.

Lovano’s “Full Sun” kicks off as a careening blowing vehicle, but quickly backs off (a little) for an Oh bass solo that rides atop Baron’s shuffling beat. Lovano then takes off on an expressive tenor journey through his post-bop roots before Douglas showcases some advanced blowing techniques on the way to a unison out chorus with Lovano.

Douglas’ arrangement of Shorter’s “Fee Fi Fo Fum” sticks to the original theme. But subtle embellishments emerge once the band’s leaders musically converse. Lovano adds a bluesy edge, while Douglas explores his mid-range. The rhythm section provides excellent propulsion, with Fields peeling off a lovely solo before the close.

Lovano’s arrangement of Shorter’s “Juju” is perhaps the most open-ended cut on the disc; dramatic solo statements nimbly sit atop a tumbling foundation from Baron and Oh. The sax man’s own “Full Moon” includes an exquisite, lilting break from Fields and the rhythm section before the return of the anthemic head. “The Corner Tavern” playfully draws its theme from the softer end of the Latin-ized hard bop spectrum, with Baron offering a seminar in percussive support along the way. The brief “High Noon” is high-energy free-bop — the only time Lovano switches to soprano sax.

Douglas’ “Ups and Downs,” a pensive, melancholy poem, emphasizes the harmonic potential of the band as does his “Scandal,” a piece with a chamber feel that turns modal; Oh’s ostinato bass buoys the trumpeter’s muted solo, the sound conjuring up intimations of ‘space’ from the ’60s, the kind of sonic gaps that could be found in the  Miles Davis/Wayne Shorter universe.

“Mission Creep,” another Douglas original, develops a sense of ominous anticipation, revolving around an improvisational center that could prove to be a black hole if not for the determination generated by the band’s collective identity. When Oh begins to walk under Lovano’s energetic solo, order is restored: a later rapid-run solo by Fields wraps the track up refreshingly. Douglas’ “Libra” closes the disc with a slightly noirish line that’s far too beautiful to be all that depressing. Instead, the tune calls for balanced reflection from the listener.

Scandal is a masterful example of musical discourse dedicated to making the most of the powers and pleasures of tradition-infused improvised jazz.

Steve Feeney is a Maine native and attended schools in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. He has a Master of Arts Degree in American and New England Studies from the University of Southern Maine. He began reviewing music on a freelance basis for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram in 1995. He was later asked to also review theater and dance. Recently, he has added BroadwayWorld.com as an outlet and is pleased to now contribute to Arts Fuse.