On his first two releases as a leader, bassist/composer
Shawn Lovato revealed the wide-lens ambition of his compositional voice. His 2017 debut,
Cycles of Animation (Skirl), featured an invigorating set of music for quintet that blurred the lines between jazz, chamber music and punk rock. He followed that in 2022 with the even more intricate
Microcosms, a suite commissioned by new music ensemble Hotel Elefant that paired that group’s members with a slate of intrepid improvisers.
Lovato scales down his ensemble but not his imaginative scope for his third album,
Biotic. Set for release on
February 13, 2026 via
Endectomorph,
Biotic debuts a new trio with Lovato, tenor saxophonist
Ingrid Laubrock and drummer
Henry Mermer. While the pared-down context intersects with the legacy of the chordless tenor trio, Lovato reimagines the group as a vehicle for spacious yet rigorous compositions, laser-focused improvisation, and a visceral romanticism born of his formative love of the impassioned fervor of punk rock.
“I tend to be drawn to drama,” Lovato says. “As a composer I have specialized in creating atmosphere and vibe, so the challenge became how to make that work in the context of a tenor trio. I had this sound in my head that didn’t exactly resonate with the way I usually compose, so it became something of a marathon to reconcile the two.”
Growing up outside New York City, Lovato’s earliest influences came not from jazz but the city’s more extreme subterranean scenes – punk, metal, hip hop. Those laid the foundation for his searching, fervid and razor-edged sound that carried over once he discovered improvised music. His relatively belated introduction to jazz made for an unusual journey through the history of chordless tenor bands. Lovato’s touchstones included the MOB Trio with Matt Wilson, Ohad Talmor and Lovato’s first bass teacher, Bob Bowen; Joe Lovano’s 1995
Quartets: Live at the Village Vanguard; Tony Malaby’s 2004
Adobe with Drew Gress and Paul Motian; and Dave Holland’s post-Circle quartet album
Conference of the Birds with Barry Altschul, Anthony Braxton and Sam Rivers – singular recordings all, and more of a hint to the reinvention that Lovato was seeking than to a particular sound or approach.
Lovato and Laubrock had crossed paths in a number of informal improvised settings and had discovered a chemistry that the bassist was eager to investigate further. Laubrock apparently felt the same – not only did she instantly agree to join Lovato for
Biotic, but she also enlisted him for her own band Grammy Season. A newer voice on New York’s creative music scene, Mermer has become a close collaborator with Lovato and shares his own connection with Laubrock – he is a member of another of her bands, the next-generation sextet Lilith.
The trio shapes these pieces in a way that often erases the boundaries between the composed and the improvised. Lovato and Laubrock are both improvisers with an architectural sensibility, making their every utterance feel precise and intentional. Laubrock is a master of texture and detail, while Lovato approaches each moment with an ever-evolving blueprint in mind, unwilling to disturb the air without a justification in the unfolding narrative. Mermer’s nuanced drumming is sculptural by nature, shaping the music through skeletal suggestion or tenacious punctuation.
From the outset of “Spling,” the onomatopoeic opening track, Lovato’s reconfiguration of the trio is strongly in evidence: the bass and tenor share the frontline spotlight, urged forward by Mermer’s staccato, propulsive thrusts. No one is consigned to a traditional role, while the melodic and percussive elements are inseparably interwoven until they disentangle themselves in the rollicking solo section. “Frequent Flyer” takes a nearly opposite approach, opting for lyricism and a compact form. The brief “One Step From Anything Easy,” meanwhile, is a free improvisation spotlighting the elegant dance of Laubrock’s tenor and Lovato’s arco bass.
The insistent “Patience and Hydration” was the first piece that Lovato wrote for the new endeavor, an early experiment in freeing the trio from its traditional roles, generating a cyclical feel as all three musicians seem to tumble over and around one another. The achingly fragile “Inexorable” is an excerpt from a longer suite written in tribute to Lovato’s mother, who was tragically killed in a car accident when he was in his late 20s. He shared the piece’s inspiration with his triomates, who respond with a breathtaking depth of emotion that feels as raw and tender as a bruise.
The title of “Dirt Doesn’t Burn” was borrowed from a magazine article; Lovato was not drawn to the subject matter of the original piece but to the aggressive swagger of the phrase – a perfect fit for a tune that bristles with an acute-angled swing feel. Another duo improvisation opens the final piece, “Parachute Bloom,” which luxuriates in the sensual blend of bowed bass and tenor.
The album’s artwork reunites Lovato with the artist Shrenik Ganatra, who also designed the cover of
Cycles of Animation in conjunction with the famed design studio Karlssonwilker. The imagery is a reflection of the album’s title – a word that refers to organic living things, but that sounds, in its hard consonants and resemblance to “bionic,” like something artificial. Lovato chose it to conjure the push-pull tension between complexity and emotion that thrives in his singular approach to the trio.
“With this music, I wanted a harsh, geometric edge to be on the forefront, but at the same time I wanted it to sound organic and alive,” Lovato explains. The natural and the artificial, form and freedom, the romantic and the abstract – with
Biotic, Lovato has crafted a living, breathing album that flourishes with exhilarating contradictions.
Shawn Lovato
Shawn Lovato is a New York-based bassist, composer, and improviser “with a distinctive compositional approach and a knack for finding the right partners to bring it to life” (
All About Jazz). Growing up on the outskirts of New York City, Lovato was deeply influenced by its underground scenes, including hip hop, metal, and punk rock. These early fringe influences continue to shape his dedication to a wide range of musical approaches—taking him from CBGB to The Stone to Lincoln Center. As a bandleader, Lovato’s albums
Microcosms (ears&eyes, 2022) and
Cycles of Animation (Skirl, 2017) display a breathtaking spectrum that push the frameworks of contemporary improvisation. Shawn’s records have been described as “absolutely stunning” (
Jazz Trail) and “profound” (
Jazz Word). In addition to leading his own projects, Lovato has performed alongside Ingrid Laubrock, Tony Malaby, Tom Rainey, Anna Webber, Jacob Sacks, DoYeon Kim, Brandon Seabrook, and others, and serves as an Adjunct Instructor at Hofstra University.
