***1/2 Joe Lovano

CELEBRATING SINATRA

(Blue Note)

This 44-year-old poll-winning, critically acclaimed saxophonist/composer never takes the easy way out, even on a no-brainer concept like this. Instead of retreading old Frank charts with Joe's sax playing the vocals, he gives us deeply felt performances with custom-designed arrangements by Manny Albam. Every piece has its own story, its own unpredictable turns. On "I'm a Fool To Want You," voice, tenor sax, and strings navigate a turn with French horn and flutes before giving way to a tenor-bass duo. "I've Got the World on a String" sports a jazz-fiddle intro, harmonizing violin, tenor, and soprano sax over brushes and, before it's over, a Four Brothers-style unison sax-section swing break. "Chicago" is a drums-tenor duet, "South of the Border" a Rollins-style calypso, "Imagination" a saloon ballad with piano trio. Lovano's tenor is, fittingly enough, a method actor, playing what the moment and the tune require -- gruff or tender, swinging on the beat or ornamenting in tempoless asides. Judi Silvano's soprano voice plays impressionistic "Lady of the Lavender Mist" back-up, singing wordlessly or drifting in with the lyrics on the bridge. Think of the album as the musical equivalent of some very smart guys sitting around talking about Frank.

-- Jon Garelick

(Joe Lovano's octet, with Judi Silvano, plays Mechanics' Hall in Worcester this Saturday, February 1, at 8 p.m. Call 508-756-8742.)