Description
Jakob Bro / Joe Lovano – Once Around The Room (A Tribute To Paul Motian) – Vinyl Record
Once Around the Room: A Tribute to Paul Motian by Jakob Bro and Joe Lovano, released in October 2022 on ECM Records, is not so much a conventional tribute album as it is a deeply atmospheric and spiritual homage to the late drummer’s legacy. Rather than reinterpreting Motian’s compositions or spotlighting his better-known works, Bro and Lovano—both former collaborators of Motian—craft a soundscape that feels like a conversation with his memory, an exploration of the space and silence that defined his drumming ethos. This album is a tribute in essence, not in imitation. It reflects Motian’s elusive sense of time, his abstraction, and his unorthodox prioritization of texture and mood over rhythm in the traditional sense. The music here feels suspended in air, gently circling around a central, often imperceptible gravitational pull—a quality that was intrinsic to Motian’s work.
The ensemble assembled for this recording is both thoughtful and unconventional. Bro and Lovano lead a double-trio formation that includes two bassists (Larry Grenadier and Thomas Morgan), a third bassist/electronics artist (Anders Christensen), and two percussionists (Joey Baron and Jorge Rossy), all musicians who are fluent in the kind of quiet, intuitive interplay that Motian championed. The effect is one of floating density—moments emerge from silence like weather fronts, then evaporate just as mysteriously. There are composed elements, most notably the titular motif “Once Around the Room,” but much of the album is improvised within loose frameworks, capturing that ephemeral, organic feeling of Motian’s own small ensembles. Joe Lovano’s tenor saxophone serves as a warm, human voice throughout the record—never aggressive or declarative, but ruminative, often trailing off into whispers. His history with Motian runs deep, especially through their trio work with Bill Frisell, and here he channels that lineage with restrained emotion, letting his saxophone drift in and out of the ambient textures like smoke.
Jakob Bro’s guitar playing is, as always, understated and atmospheric. Rather than fill the space with traditional solos, he constructs shimmering harmonic backdrops, using delay and reverb as expressive tools. His playing doesn’t command attention—it invites it, slowly drawing the listener inward. The presence of both Grenadier and Morgan on bass (plus Christensen’s arco textures and subtle electronics) creates a lush, deep field of resonance. Combined with the twin percussion voices of Baron and Rossy—each interpreting rhythm more as gesture than pulse—the ensemble operates as a single, breathing organism, constantly shifting and reconfiguring.
What makes this album so powerful is its ability to evoke the emotional and sonic space that Motian inhabited—a world where ambiguity, patience, and negative space were central. The production, in typical ECM fashion under Manfred Eicher’s direction, enhances this meditative quality. The audio is pristine but natural, with every breath, scrape, and harmonic decay captured in crystal clarity, allowing silence itself to become an instrument. Listening to Once Around the Room is a deeply immersive experience, not designed to impress with technical flash or melodic hooks, but to envelop the listener in a slow, contemplative drift. It’s music that requires patience, but in return, it offers a profound sense of stillness, vulnerability, and reflection.
Ultimately, this album stands as one of the most graceful tributes to Paul Motian’s legacy—not by repeating his music, but by embracing his philosophy of sound and presence. It’s less about remembering the notes he played and more about recalling the spaces he created, the mood he conjured, and the freedom he allowed within structure. For listeners already attuned to the more spiritual and ambient side of modern jazz, Once Around the Room is a deeply rewarding listen. For others, it may serve as a quiet doorway into Motian’s uniquely impressionistic world. Either way, it’s a hauntingly beautiful record—one that lingers, long after the final note fades.
Brand new, never played and still sealed in the factory plastic
Track Listing
As It Should Be
Sound Creation
For The Love Of Paul
Song To An Old Friend
Drum Music
Pause
