Symphonica

*Symphonica* showcases the masterful and shape-shifting saxophonist Joe Lovano as he plays with a big band and an orchestra on this finely produced live recording. Lovano has worked in larger settings on albums such as *Celebrating Sinatra* and *Viva Caruso*, but here it’s his own compositions that get lovingly fleshed out. (In addition, Symphonica also includes an appropriately lush version of Charlie Mingus’s “Duke Ellington’s Sound of Love.”) Michael Abene, who conducts the Cologne-based WDR Big Band and the Rundfunk Orchestra, wrote the album’s excellent arrangements. The opener, “Emperor Jones,” a stylish tribute to the drummer Elvin Jones, finds Lovano in a breathy, lyrical mode on tenor sax. He takes a more modern approach on the swinging “Alexander the Great,” which has an arrangement that recalls Leonard Bernstein. “Eternal Joy,” another track with echoes of Bernstein, and “His Dreams,” a tribute to Lovano’s father, feature nice displays of the veteran’s soprano sax playing. Guitarist Paul Shigihara and Lovano outline the theme on “The Dawn of Time,” a piece that stands out from rest of the material, thanks in part to Shigihara’s rock-influenced solo.

Joe Lovano's joint project with the vaunted WDR Big Band & Rudfunk Orchester from Germany (recorded live in concert on November 26, 2005, aside from the studio track "His Dreams") is one of many collaborations combining an American jazz artist with the horns and strings of this classically oriented, jazz-informed orchestra.