Global Jazz Forum: Joe Lovano and Ben Street
Joe Lovano ’72 ’98H
Image courtesy of the artist
Ben Street
Image courtesy of Oliver Abels
Two of jazz’s most impressive proponents, tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano ’72 ’98H and bassist Ben Street, come together to share the joy of their respective musical journeys with students in this forum.
A leading jazz luminary, Joe Lovano is a Grammy-winning tenor saxophonist and Blue Note recording artist who serves as Gary Burton chair in performance with the Berklee Global Jazz Institute. Lovano has collaborated with a near-endless list of legendary musicians, including McCoy Tyner ’05H, Hank Jones ’05H, John Scofield ’73 ’97H, Bill Frisell ’77 ’17H, and Branford Marsalis ’80 ’06H. He has been nominated for 14 Grammys, and won last year’s DownBeat Critics Poll Award for tenor saxophone.
Watch Lovano and students perform “Topsy Turvy”:
Ben Street is an in-demand bassist who has worked extensively with Kurt Rosenwinkel, Danilo Pérez, Billy Hart, Lage Lund, and David Sanchez, among others. This year, Street appeared (with Hart) on Aaron Parks’s Find the Way, which follows up his work in 2016 on the Andrew Cyrille Quartet’s The Declaration of Musical Independence, on which Street worked with Cyrille, Bill Frisell ’77 ’17H, and Richard Teitelbaum. Street studied with Miroslav Vitous, the renowned Weather Report bassist, and Dave Holland in Boston before moving to New York City in 1991. He is a guest artist with the Berklee Global Jazz Institute.
The Berklee Global Jazz Institute is an honors performance program designed to foster creativity and musicianship through various musical disciplines, with pianist and composer Danilo Pérez as its artistic director. The BGJI provides a comprehensive contemporary music environment where students are given opportunities to explore their creativity to the highest level possible, advance the power of music as a tool for the betterment of society, and connect musical/creative thinking with the natural environment.