New Releases : **** : JOE LOVANO; “Landmarks”; <i> Blue Note</i>

Tenor saxophonist Lovano looks to be one of the major jazz players of the ‘90s. He’s a seasoned musician whose art embraces a multitude of directions, yet always remains remarkably personal. On his U.S. major label debut, the veteran of bands led by drummers Mel Lewis and Paul Motian and guitarist John Scofield reveals the capacity to generously invest dissimilar moments with musicality. The nine-tune set of originals is full of melodic grace and rhythmic snap.

The comely melodies of Lovano’s songs often contain unexpected leaps and twists, but these angularities don’t detract from a work’s established feeling or mood. His solos, buoyed by a smooth, dark tone, follow this pattern: a passage of evenly-paced, medium-register notes will be followed by a sudden nimble vault into his horn’s highest range and an equally rapid descent to a fat bottom note.

Nothing here is mundane. “Street Talk” is a funk tune of sorts, with tenor and bass both sharing the melody. The ballad “Emperor Jones” is rhapsodic and free flowing, and “Landmarks Along the Way” shows that Lovano can cook in a be-bop manner.