“Judi and I have had a joyous journey together…not only in music but in our life partnership… She’s full of ideas, and is always surprising me with her depth and expression. We continue to grow and learn from each other, in this blessed world of music and life we live in.” –Joe Lovano

Photo by Andrea Canter

It was too early for the Hot Summer Jazz Festival, too early for Sommerfest, and too late for holiday splendor. But in the Twin Cities last week, music lovers from classical to jazz to “third stream” had the opportunity to sample two consummate musicians performing across genres and venues. From the Dakota bandstand to Ordway’s main stage, from the Artists Quarter to the small theater of the Minnesota History Center, vocalist Judi Silvano and husband, tenor sax virtuoso Joe Lovano truly covered the “waterfront” of modern music. Separately and together, with rhythm section, little band or small orchestra, this engaging pair presented a festive showcase of song and sonata that included American and world premieres as well as fresh arrangements of standard fare.

And you had to be on your toes to catch it all, as some of the best moments were unscheduled. The calendar included Judi Silvano’s gig at the Dakota (May 5); Joe Lovano was the guest artist of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra on May 6-7; and both were on the program of the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota's concert on May 8^th; in addition both musicians conducted master classes and Lovano appeared down the highway in Northfield at St. Olaf College on Thursday night, while Silvano was on stage at the Dakota. But the Twin Cities are a small town, and those who stayed for the late jazz club sets (perhaps in anticipation?) were rewarded by Lovano’s “surprise” appearance at the Dakota Thursday night and again at the Artists Quarter on Saturday night, when both guests joined the Laura Caviani Trio for the final set.

Photo by Andrea Canter

Judi Silvano at the Dakota

Philadelphian Judi Silvano has been named one of the Top 10 Vocalists by Down Beat three times and has performed and recorded with a long and diverse list of artists from Bill Frisell to Kenny Werner to Charlie Haden, as well as husband Joe Lovano. Yet Silvano is perhaps best known as a devoted educator, progressive composer, and producer who presents rising vocalists in a monthly program at New York City’s Cornelia Street Café. While her many wide-ranging recordings often edge toward the avant garde, her new acclaimed release (Let Yourself Go, Zoho Music, 2004), is a set of standards assembled for her mother’s 80^th birthday.

For her debut at the relocated Dakota, Judi Silvano melded a supporting sextet that included her frequent compatriot (and former Twin Citian) Dick Oatts on alto and soprano sax, along with the best area band imaginable—Laura Caviani on piano, Gordy Johnson on bass, Phil Hey on drums, Dave Jensen on trumpet, and Jeff Rinear on trombone. For the most part this ensemble reflects the instrumental support on Let Yourself Go, which provided much of the playlist in the first set at the Dakota.

Photo by Andrea Canter

The second set featured several tunes not on the new recording, including a rendition of “Mood Indigo” sung with just the rhythm section, Silvano’s scatting sensibility evident even in a straight vocal, and Mal Waldron’s “Soul Eyes,” which she had recorded with the composer shortly before his death—and marvelously enhanced in Minneapolis by the surprise appearance of Joe Lovano. Another second set gem was Rogers' and Hart’s “I Could Write a Book,” featuring Silvano harmonizing with the brass section, her vocalese essentially providing another horn.

Photo by Andrea Canter

Joe Lovano

Joe Lovano has become one of the most celebrated jazz artists of his generation. Growing up in Cleveland, the son of tenor saxophonist Tony “Big T” Lovano studied with his father and absorbed the influences of Sonny Stitt, James Moody, Gene Ammons, Rashaan Roland Kirk, and Dizzy Gillespie, and later the experimental work of John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, and Jimmy Giuffre. After attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Lovano made his recording debut with organ master Lonnie Smith and worked with Jack McDuff before joining Woody Herman’s Thundering Herd. He went on to perform with top big bands and touring artists, releasing a series of acclaimed recordings that garnered many Grammy nominations, winning the 2000 award for Best Large Ensemble recording, 52nd Street Themes. He heads the Caramoor Jazz Festival in upstate New York and holds the first Gary Burton Chair for Jazz Performance at Berklee.

Photo by Andrea Canter

The Friday/Saturday program of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra started off with Vaughan Williams’ beautiful “Lark Ascending,” featuring the sweet violin of Ruggero Allifranchini. This was immediately followed by the American premiere of a commissioned work by Gunther Schuller protégé Mark-Anthony Turnage that paid tribute to Lark, “Man Descending.” Scored for small orchestra and solo tenor saxophone (and specifically for Lovano), Turnage notes that “just as the soloist reaches up for the sky at the end of ‘A Lark Ascending,’ so my piece starts in the highest register and then circles lower and lower.”

In unusual but very interesting programming, the piece was played twice, separated by intermission: In the first presentation, Lovano and the orchestra played the composition as notated, limiting the saxophonist to a small degree of improvisation in the opening and closing measures. With the acoustics of Ordway tuned to highlight deep orchestral tones, Lovano’s “circles” of descending phrases evoked the majestic ghost of Ben Webster. After intermission, the second presentation provided Lovano with a largely free space in which to improvise, challenging the SPCO musicians to keep up and maintain Turnage’s structure. The result generally worked; cut loose from the script, the saxophonist left Webster and much of the 20^th century behind without losing the listener; the notes flew in spirals and loops, melodically swirling through “man’s descent” with Lovano quoting “Body and Soul” in the process. The Chicago Tribune’s description of Lovano’s tenor work seems apt in this context: "...unexpected starts and stops, abrupt changes in melodic direction, idiosyncratically accented rhythms and unusual leaps of pitch...” As one of the co-commissioners of this composition, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra will hopefully bring Lovano back to record this masterful example of “third stream” artistry.

Sunday night, Lovano participated in the world premiere of a composition that also has ties to Gunther Schuller and Tanglewood, this one written by Peter Childs (in honor of Schuller’s 75^th birthday) specifically for Lovano and the artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota, violinist Young-Nam Kim. Childs, Lovano and Kim met through residencies at Tanglewood. The three-part composition, “Moonsculptures,” scored for piano, violin and jazz saxophone, takes musical themes from Lovano (his composition “Sculptures”) and Kim(a Korean folk song about the moon) and inverts the lead voices, such that Lovano carries the opening “Lunar Eclipse” and Kim revisits Lovano’s work on the third movement, “Chorale.” In between, the movements are connected by “Round Dance.” Lovano’s big round tone again evoked Ben Webster at times, as one might imagine Webster would play today; in duet and duel with Kim, the violinist played the straight man to Lovano’s unbridled phrases. The result was two distinct voices, each maintaining his basic personality, the contrast seeming to enhance both.

The concert closed with a set of Manny Albam’s arrangements of Sinatra tunes, which Lovano recorded on Blue Note in 1996 as Celebrating Sinatra. Here Silvano joined her husband and the full chamber ensemble (including harp, bassoon, oboe, strings and rhythm section) on “I’ll Never Smile Again,” “Fly Me to the Moon,” and “All the Way.” In contrast to her presentation at the Dakota, Silvano’s contributions were more impressionistic, offering vocalese accompaniment while strategically injecting single lines of lyrics. With just the bass and drums, Silvano and Lovano closed out the evening with “I’ll Remember April”—and they really didn’t need the rhythm section. With just sax and voice, these two can fill any venue with enough musical ideas to keep your head spinning after the final chord.

Most fun, perhaps, over these four nights were the two impromptu performances. Lovano turned up in time to help Silvano close out the late set at the Dakota, hopping up on the bandstand to accompany “Soul Eyes” with just the rhythm section; it was just a small taste of his horn but a crowd-pleasing tour de force. The Saturday night crowd at the Artists Quarter had already applauded through two stellar sets from the Laura Caviani Trio (with Chris Bates on bass and Michael Pilhofer on drums), but anticipated the arrival of Silvano and Lovano, still full of energy following the second night of the SPCO a few blocks away. And the special third set did not disappoint—a back and forth scat and sax that evoked a busy Parisian thoroughfare on “I’ll Remember April,” another exhilarating run through “Soul Eyes,” and a quick encore from Lovano who was just having too much fun to quit.

And if any single word describes the vibe of this weekend, it is “fun”—these two musicians exude sincere warmth and unbounded joy in their performance. On stage they engage the audience as old friends, and project pure delight in creating music, alone and with each other. They’re musical tour guides and we’re the lucky tourists. Sign me up for the next cruise.

Canadian audiences can enjoy Joe Lovano and his quartet this weekend: May 12^th at the Wolf Performance Hall in London, ONT; May 13^th at the Hamilton Place Studio Theater in Hamilton, ONT; and on May 14^th at the Jane Mallett Theater in Toronto (see www.nightlifejazz.com for ticket information for this Canadian tour). Lovano then settles in at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola in Manhattan, May 17-22 in tribute to Thad Jones (www.jazzatlincolncenter.org). Upcoming for Judi Silvano: June 25th with the 4-J Quartet in Schenectedy, NY at the Van Dyck Jazz & Supper Club, 7/9:30 pm, reservations at (518)-381-1111; June 27th, quintet at Birdland in New York City; www.birdlandjazz.com