Village Rhythm

We Say...

Review by Britt Robson

This 1988 date captures Lovano at a pivotal point in his career. After years of big-band dues-paying and ongoing small ensemble sideman stints, Village Rhythm marked just his third recording as a leader, and the first one defined by his compositions (the only non-original among the ten tunes is Mingus's "Duke Ellington's Sounds of Love"). His father, tenor player "Big T" Lovano, had recently passed (eulogized twice on "T Was To Me"), and the more innovative artistic themes that characterized his Blue Note discs of the '90s were on the horizon.

In this context, Village Rhythm is both a capstone of Lovano's proletarian past and a harbinger of his creatively and commercially regal future. As with his work on drummer Paul Motian's albums of the same period, it announces him as a thinking man's hard bopper. The most immediately attractive songs here — the title track, "Dewey Said," "Sleepy Giant" — would slide easily into the catalog of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Except instead of the kinetic, linear drive of Blakey, Lovano has Motian, a more subtle shaman, parsing the beats. And for the trumpet contributions to what would usually be bright and brisk horn arrangements, Lovano deploys the occasionally elliptical and bittersweet Tom Harrell. On the Mingus cover, Lovano captures the chromatic fragrance of the piece and uses Kenny Werner's harsh piano tones to accentuate the dynamic texture. Whether he's flitting on notes for "Bliss of Springtimes Gone By," buffing up the ballad "Chelsea Rendez-Vous," or flying through the changes on "Sleepy Giant" (check his exchanges with Motian at the end), the depth of Lovano's technique probably undersells his sense of adventure. As considerable as his reach may be, it never exceeds his grasp.