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"Bestowing an album with the 'classic' designation upon its release may seem a bit presumptuous, but this appears to be one of those if-the-shoe-fits cases that says otherwise ... this surely fits the bill." - All About Jazz Classic! (Live At Newport) is Grammy-winning saxophonist Joe Lovano's 25th release for Blue Note, recorded in August 2005 at the Newport Jazz Festival. Lovano has dedicated the album to the memory of his legendary pianist, the late Hank Jones, who was 87 years old when this performance was captured. In addition to Jones, Lovano is backed here by bassist George Mraz and drummer Lewis Nash. "With Lewis the music took on a much more hard-hitting approach and I felt a need to record us live at Newport, even though I knew it couldn't be released at the time ... this was truly my classic quartet in every sense of the term. Hank Jones was clearly one of the modern jazz geniuses of all time and he elevated us all with his imagination and inspiration. His accompaniment and solos were full of love, poetry and searching; he made you feel so good all the time ... I treasured our friendship and collaborations and learned so much from him. His wisdom and knowledge about music and life, his humour, wit, passion and love will always inspire and be with me." - Joe Lovano