After the marathon blowing of Fort Worth, the concert shifts to its most intimate moment with this Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington ballad taken at 56 BPM. Lovano delivers two choruses on tenor saxophone over the unusual 22-bar ABC form, followed by a one-chorus bass solo from Hall — a rare moment of featured prominence for the bassist in a ballad context. The ten-minute performance lets Strayhorn's lush harmonies breathe at a tempo where every note choice is exposed. Strayhorn and Ellington composed the piece as part of their Shakespearean suite Such Sweet Thunder, inspired by Romeo and Juliet, and the tune's romantic melancholy suits Lovano's warm, vibrato-rich tenor sound. The brief, restrained solo lengths contrast sharply with the extended improvisations elsewhere in the concert, demonstrating Lovano's capacity for lyrical understatement. The set then moves to The Dawn of Time, returning to uptempo playing.
