Joe Lovano: godfather of jazz

Like all mothers, that of saxophonist Joe Lovano - one of the biggest names in jazz over the last three decades - thinks that her son doesn't visit her enough. She still lives in Cleveland, where she fell in love with Joe's father, the saxophonist "Big T" Lovano, after seeing him play with Stan Getz and Flip Phillips. The Ohio city is a ten-hour drive from New York, top of the world for guys like Joe. And yes, he likes to go back home "to while away time with buddies, visit the old barber's shop, get home to find the table laid" - but there isn't always enough time.

Of Sicilian heritage, Lovano was recently nominated for a Grammy for his latest album Bird Songs and is one of the most in-demand artists in the business. Giusepina, as his mamma is called, can at least console herself with admiring her son from time to time on the cover of DownBeat magazine. "She's a big reader," says Lovano.

This week he is finishing up an extensive Spanish tour with concerts in Madrid, Valladolid and Avilés, having already played in Málaga, Barcelona and Santiago. The dates form part of the traveling Jazz in Blue festival, a curious initiative that consists of sending Lovano, Robert Glasper and The Bad Plus - key names currently on the legendary Blue Note label - out on a tour that goes beyond the well-worn path of the major capitals.

A tenor saxophonist with a wide range, 59-year-old Lovano has been part of Blue Note since 1991 and has just recorded album "number 23" for the label. Out soon, it was made with his band Us5 and features the guitarist Lionel Loueke.

"I grew up listening to those Blue Note classics on my father's stereo," remembers Lovano. "Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins and Art Blakey." But those heroic days are long gone and the company has been the property of EMI for several decades. And if its motto still boasts about offering "the best jazz since 1939," it now - like the rest of the labels under the umbrella of the multinational - finds itself threatened by uncertainty after the announcement of its sale to Universal.

"Perhaps I should be as worried for my future as the rest of humanity, but I feel an enormous positive energy. I am one of those people who believe things always end up in the right place. The new people at EMI made a good impression on me."

Perhaps I should be worried for my future, but I feel a lot of positive energy"

Lovano is an undeniably innovative musician, but his initial fighting spirit has given way to a certain omnivorous classicism. Indeed, all of his optimism may be hiding the pain of a great deal of loss. He is deeply respectful of the past, which is disappearing at the rate of the harsh extinction of a generation of old jazzmen, with whom he has maintained close ties. "This past year has been particularly tough," he explains. "It started with the death of Hank Jones and ended with that of Paul Motian, my first boss back around 1981. And in between: James Moody, Frank Foster, Sam Rivers and Bob Brookmeyer. It's painful because my life is based on the stability of relationships."

A long way from the stereotype of the musician with a disordered private life, Lovano is, in effect, a family man. He has been married for several decades to the singer Judi Silvano, with whom he frequently collaborates.

"The life of a musician is very difficult, above all when it comes to keeping a cool head, but Judi is my guardian angel," he says.

In his professional life, Lovano is more prone to infidelity. His style takes in an admirable capacity to adapt to the means - whether it is a symphony orchestra, a quintet with two drum kits or the Europa Quartet, the name with which he has christened the international group (vaguely inspired by Phil Woods' European Rhythm Machine) that he fronts in Jazz in Blue. "I am an improviser, a soloist," he says. "My job is to feed the talent of others."

 Joe Lovano. March 8 at Teatro Lara, Madrid. March 9 at Centro Cultural Miguel Delibes, Valladolid. March 10 at Centro Cultural Internacional de Avilés, Avilés. See www.joelovano.com for more information.