Joe Lovano Nonet

Joe Lovano brings his Nonet to Birdland for a late set in his residency, joined by saxophonists George Garzone and Jerry Bergonzi, with Leo Genovese on piano, Gerald Cannon on bass and Billy Hart on drums. The program is part of Lovano’s Tenor Legacy series, in which he brings in special guests to celebrate today’s tenor players while calling up the spirits of earlier masters. With three saxophonists in the announced group and a rhythm section steeped in creative jazz, the evening centers on the tenor tradition as a living conversation rather than a museum piece.

A Grammy Award winner, Lovano is a saxophonist described by The New York Times as “one of the greatest musicians in jazz history.” The listing calls him a prescient, pathfinding force in creative music, a role he has built over years of leading Tenor Legacy events with changing guests. This Birdland engagement places him alongside Garzone and Bergonzi, fellow saxophonists with whom the focus on tenor lineage can unfold in multiple voices, while Genovese, Cannon and Hart supply the piano, bass and drums foundation. It is a meeting designed around Lovano’s ongoing interest in honoring the instrument’s past through players active now.