The concert closes with its most extended collective performance — Lovano's blues original at 188 BPM with all three soloists taking lengthy statements. Cohen delivers ten choruses on piano, Lovano stretches to sixteen choruses on tenor saxophone — his longest solo of the evening — and Hall contributes eight choruses on acoustic bass. The thirty-four combined solo choruses over the twelve-bar blues form give the twelve-minute finale the expansive, communal feel of musicians who don't want the night to end. Lovano composed Big Ben as a blues head, and the simple form provides the perfect vehicle for this kind of extended, relaxed blowing after a program that has ranged from solo stride piano to Latin originals to Ellington ballads. The blues serves as the great equalizer, bringing the evening full circle from its historical opening to a primal jazz form that connects every era of the music.
