Jakob Bro / Joe Lovano – Once Around The Room (ECM Records) Official Album Teaser

Jakob Bro / Joe Lovano · Once Around the Room
Release Date: November 4, 2022
Buy/stream: ECM.lnk.to/OnceAroundTheRoom
For more information on ECM, please visit: ECMRecords.com

ECM Records: On ‘Once Around The Room’ ECM recording artists and key jazz musicians from several generations unite in a small ensemble to celebrate the musical legacy of drum icon Paul Motian in a big way. Joe Lovano and Jakob Bro lead a party of seven through fiery originals that recall the idioms and idiosyncrasies which Motian brought to light over six influential decades behind the drums. Lovano and Motian had been intimate colleagues for many years with their most notable collaboration being the groundbreaking trio featuring Bill Frisell – the lineup released three albums on ECM. Jakob Bro on the other hand made his ECM debut on Paul’s album ‘Garden of Eden’ (2006). On ‘Once Around The Room’, compositions by Joe and Jakob appear alongside collective improvisation and Motian’s own “Drum Music”, seamlessly tied together and developed by an accomplished musical collective with stalwarts Larry Grenadier, Thomas Morgan and Anders Christensen respectively on bass as well as drummers Joey Baron and Jorge Rossy.

FEATURED ARTISTS
Jakob Bro · Guitar
Joe Lovano · Tenor Saxophone, Tarogato
Larry Grenadier · Double Bass
Thomas Morgan · Double Bass
Anders Christensen · Bass Guitar
Joey Baron · Drums
Jorge Rossy · Drums

★★★★☆ – Downbeat (US): “The core essence of this heartfelt homage: Lead and follow at the same time, share the space and let the music carry you — a Motian-like mantra if there ever was one. The music rains melodic lines, scribbles and skronks; it surrounds the listener with a rumbling, shimmering atmosphere generated by the fallout of Bro’s all-encompassing guitar effects and the collective thunder of the basses and drums. Moments of reflective calm marked by clearly defined melodies, harmonies and beats come into play as well, reminding us of Motian’s gentler side. “

★★★★★ – Marlbank (IR): “In dreams – if you dream music rather than pictorial imagery and we often do – the soundtrack which is always an abstraction and mysterious is something ideally like Once Around the Room. Collectively a septet – all the players are leaders of an illustrious nature 5 flying in to Copenhagen from all over – Paris, London, New York, Switzerland and Berlin – for the recording led by the powerhouse saxophonist Joe Lovano here ostensibly at high avant-garde altitude and by the New Cool School Danish guitar master, Jakob Bro.”

El Pais (ES) – Yahvé M. de la Cavada: “Everything is played with mastery and respect. The repertoire is round and the music brilliant. Also, it contains the best Lovano we’ve heard on a record in recent times, and that’s no small thing.”

★★★★ (Editor’s Choice) – Jazzwise (UK): “Much more than a tribute, Once Around The Room captures Motian’s spirit and walks with it to a performance that has a compelling sense of vibrant celebration as well as solemn recognition of greatness.”

★★★★☆ (Jazz Album of the Week) – The Times (UK): “A tribute to an extraordinary musician calls for an extraordinary line-up, and that is what Jakob Bro and Joe Lovano have given us in their first album as co-leaders. When they play in unison, what could have been confused and cacophonous instead becomes a warm bath of sound.”

★★★★☆ – Financial Times (UK): “The late American drummer Paul Motian’s balance of freedom and form underscored an elliptic pulse with a strong sense of purpose and time. Jakob Bro and Joe Lovano’s compelling tribute captures that floaty urgency by using a double rhythm section bolstered by an additional bass guitar. The fluid rhythms, sensitive interplay and misty textures remain, but a sharper attack and greater urgency offer something new.”

★★★★☆ – All About Jazz: “Acolytes all of the late Paul Motian, Bro and Lovano lead Once Around A Room through a meditative investigation of the collective soul. The common voice we all speak in if only we’d bother to listen to one another.”

★★★★★ (4,5/5) – JazzTrail (US): “…The co-leaders are absolutely phenomenal here, opting for a stream of modern creative ideas. With restless energy, the saxist hooks up avant-garde and post-bop elements over the rippling currents provided by the basses and the spacious, effect-drenched guitar of his associate. Once Around the Room has to be made a priority, and as an inspired work of rare talents, you’ll want to spin it over and over again.”

★★★★★ (4,5/5) – Stereophile (US): “Although he’s more than able to hold his own in a straight-up blowing session, eminent tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano has a tender, introspective side and a talent for free jazz, both of which are brought into sharp focus here, thanks to a pairing with that supreme textualist on guitar, Jakob Bro. With Manfred Eicher producing, hence ECM’s incomparable sound, Once Around The Room” […] is a tribute fit for a percussive giant”

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