Joe Lovano Trio Tapestry with Marilyn Crispell & Carmen Castaldi
‘Garden of Expression’ (ECM Records)

Just how many Joe Lovanos are there? I mean, really? For the sake of argument, let’s say there are at least two: the “outside” Joe Lovano, who specializes in cutting edge jazz, plays mostly original compositions of his own or his fellow band members, and has no fear of freeform playing, outside of traditional chord changes.  

Then there’s the “inside” Joe Lovano, who works in a clearly defined tradition, plays jazz and American songbook standards, works well in a big band or large format ensemble, enjoyed a long collaboration with the brilliant Hank Jones that was a highlight of both careers, and has made beautiful albums honoring iconic singers like Sinatra and Caruso. 

So, there are at least two very distinct Joe Lovanos out there, but after spending some quality time with each of them I have come to realize that they are less different than I thought. Or, as my friend Loren Schoenberg, the jazz scholar and player, might say, they’re more alike than they are different.

“Outside Joe” is heard to beautiful advantage on his latest album, “Garden of Expression,” the second release by his ensemble, Trio Tapestry, co-starring pianist Marilyn Crispell and drummer Carmen Castaldi. For some reason I keep referring to the group in my head as “Trio Tranquility,” because even though this is inarguably postmodern jazz, it’s devoid of the dissonance and angularity that we associate with 1960s free jazz. It’s not your grandfather’s bebop, but it’s not your father’s avant-garde jazz, either.

Instead, the eight compositions here, all by Mr. Lovano, are remarkably listenable. It’s not a horn-playing leader being backed up by a rhythm section; the foreground and background are completely fluid, and both the piano and the drums supply tonal color and commentary as much as the beat. The tunes are amorphous and blobby, drifting clouds of sound — and, for all that, strangely compelling; this trio seems like a direct outgrowth of the more famous one Mr. Lovano played in, under the leadership of drummer Paul Motian and also featuring guitarist Bill Frisell.

True, the music here is not exactly hummable, and it doesn’t conform to such Western notions as having a beginning, a middle, and an ending.  Yet it matters less where each tune is going than where it actually is, right in the present moment. So much contemporary musical verbiage is about “the journey” — a term that’s become the hoariest of cliches, especially among musicians or singers introducing their work — but Trio Tapestry is less interested in going than in simply being somewhere. The last tune on the album is even titled “Zen Like.” 

There was little that was zenlike — there was too much excitement — at Tuesday’s Jazz in July concert at the 92nd Street Y, New York. “Inside Joe” took the stage in an all-star quintet led by artistic director and pianist Bill Charlap, along with vibraphonist Warren Wolf, bassist David Wong, drummer Carl Allen, and singer Samara Joy. This Joe has a way of playing that’s hard-driving and yet mellow, a method that’s appropriate for a summer jazz event: I kept picturing Freebody Park, home of the Newport Jazz Festival 70 years ago, a place and an experience that I know only in my imagination.

This was an evening of mega-standards that commenced with a medium tempo “On Green Dolphin Street,” followed by a fast Charlie Parker bopper, “Moose the Mooche,” and then the mother of all jazz classics, “Body and Soul.” In addition to some tunes with the excellent Ms. Joy, Mr. Lovano also took center stage on a relatively slow treatment of the early-bop barn-burner “Ornithology.”  

“Body and Soul” served largely as a pas de deux for Messrs. Lovano and Wolf. In the first chorus we heard the central section on tenor sax and the bridge on vibes; then, in a later second chorus, they changed partners and danced, with Mr. Charlap cutting in on piano. Here and on “Ornithology,” they started playing “inside” but seemed to be looking for a way outside. Mr. Charlap and the rhythm trio, naturally and organically, as Mr. Lovano likes to say, arrived at a freeform interlude that seemed more like Ornette Coleman than the birdhouse that Charlie Parker built. 

Like many tenor saxophone giants, including Houston Person, Mr. Lovano has a big, bearlike sound and presence. He also seems to have picked up one technique from his frequent collaborator, the late Lee Konitz, in that he has mastered the art of playing a solo that holds our attention without resorting to the customary techniques of playing louder, faster, or repeating a note or a phrase until all eyes are on him. He pulls focus by strictly musical means.

So maybe there aren’t two distinct Joes Lovano out there after all. Or maybe “Outside Joe” is more approachable and user-friendly than a lot of postmodern jazzmen, while “Inside Joe” is more challenging and surprising than many players who work in the earlier styles. That’s part of the joy of listening to Mr. Lovano: In more than 30 albums as a leader, another dozen as what they call a co-leader, and many more as a sideman, you never know which Joe you’re going to get — but he’ll never be less than great.