49th Annual Down Beat Critics Poll
JOE LOVANO
Jazz Artist of the Year
HISTORY in the PLAYING

When Joe Lovano sits down for an afternoon lunch the day after an evening concert, he looks like he hasn't stopped playing. His goatee and the strands of hair that flow from the sides of the trademark chapeau looks as windswept as they do when works. Yet the easygoing Lovano would be the last to effuse about Lovano. All throughout a conversation about his recent efforts, he's more eager to graciously discuss his heroes and his colleagues than he is to brag. He has just enough confidence to know that he doesn't have to.
Lovano's considerable skills have been widely applauded over the years. But a significant reason why the saxophonist stands as a recurring favorite among journalists and audiences is that he avoids repetition even when revisiting his own past. "Your development as an artist just grows the more you play", says Lovano, who has topped Down Beat's Critics Poll as Jazz Artist of the Year for the third time. "The more your history develops as a musician, the more you can say within the music. My career has developed around my ambition to play with the greatest players that I can". (...)
(...) Lovano also continues to reinvent his instruments.(...) I've been working with [saxophone manufactures] Borgani since '95/ '96. We're working on a Silver model [tenor] with Gold keys. I grew up playing a Balanced Action Selmer, King Super 20s and a Chu Berry model Conn. These newer horns will be made like an older horn. It's handmade, hand-pounded brass and each horn is made with a lot of care. But with modern mechanisms, so you have the best of both worlds. Because the mouthpiece is wood, it's like playing the clarinet. It has an amazing range within the dynamic power you can play with- from triple piano to triple forte". (...)

by Aaron Cohen (DownBeat August 2001)

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