*** Joe Lovano

TRIO FASCINATION

(Blue Note)

As one would expect of a conversation among three wise jazzmen, Trio Fascination is sprinkled with quiet insights, some shouting, and more than a little respect for the past. Saxophonist Lovano has earned several awards for an exploratory, post-bop style that builds on foundations poured by Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins, and John Coltrane. Here he is joined by drummer Elvin Jones, who helped define the small-group sound in the Coltrane quartet, and bassist Dave Holland, who has spent much of his accomplished career on the avant-garde edges of the duo and trio formats.

Without a piano, the line-up is less anchored but far more supple than it would otherwise be, shifting effortlessly in and out of tempos and moods. The most brilliant moments are often dialogues: here Holland and Lovano engaging in a back-and-forth of increasing wit; there Jones and the 46-year-old saxophonist chasing each other like dogs in the park, with Elvin playing melody as no other drummer can. For the ballad "Ghost of a Chance," Lovano adopts a sound as breathy and romantic as Coleman Hawkins, later to return to his own edgier tone and more modern vocabulary.

-- Bill Kisliuk