Our Daily Bread

"Our Daily Bread is fuelled by the rhythm spirit of expression that projects the mysterious world of music that lies ahead," says master saxophonist Lovano in his liner note and these elegantly fluid pieces and free-foating ballads indeed feel like songs of the soul. "The intensity comes not from ferocity but from depth of feeling," wrote the BBC Music Magazine of the group's debut. "Lovano's themes and harmonies provide rich potential which the trio realises beautifully, exploring texture and mood as fruitfully as it develops melody and harmony."

Marilyn Crispell is the optimal pianist for this music, orchestrating it as it unfolds with a sensibility attuned to both contemporary chamber music and post-Coltrane improvising. Drummer Carmen Castaldi, a Lovano associate since teenage years, embellishes the music with his own poetic touch on cymbals and, like Joe himself, draws blossoming resonances from gongs. Midway through the programme, Lovano delivers the bluesy "One for Charlie" as a solo tenor tribute to Charlie Haden, investing every note with meaning, as the tune's dedicatee once did.