JURE PUKL - Broken Circles
Whirlwind Recordings
Jure Pukl - tenor & soprano saxophone, bass clairnet; Charles Altura - guitar; Joel Ross - vibraphone; Matt Brewer - double bass; Kweku Sumbry - drums
Slovenian saxist and composer Pukl is thoroughly embedded in the vanguard of young NYC players: he and his wife Melissa Aldana comprising something of a tenor sax power couple on the scene. This latest release features a band of forward-looking coevals in a programme of originals: the unusual guitar/vibes lineup might suggest a chamber jazz feel but the consistent power and sheer unbridled imagination of the astonishing Kweku Sumbry on drums constantly drive the band to greater heights of energy.
Both Joel Ross and Charles Altura are capable of delivering dizzying sweeps of 16th notes, as their playing on opening track ‘Sustained Optimism’ demonstrates, and their tones blend together to create an intriguing texture over which Jukl’s plaintive, sometimes hoarse-toned sax sketches out twisting melodies that skirt around the harmonic centres in a manner that recalls the idiosyncratic post-bop adventurism of Sam Rivers. ‘Broken Circles’ alternates super-tight written unisons with short blowing interludes over a chattering rhythm from Sumbry that evokes his African heritage without being in thrall to it. ‘Separation’ has more of a chamber feel, with Matt Brewer stepping forward from his pivotal role as the band’s anchor to make a considered solo statement. ‘Compassion’ uses the additional ghostly rattling of Chilean kalimba to introduce a pensive soprano-led ballad. ‘Triumph Of Society’ builds through dazzling guitar and drums tours de force into an almost symphonic conclusion.
Pukl switches to dark-toned bass clarinet for a reading of morbid classic ‘Gloomy Sunday’ that provides an album highlight, building from darkness into light. Brewer comes to the fore again for the bustling ‘Half Past Five’, a classic slice of straight-eights odd-meter contemporary jazz: ‘Kids’ opens with some candid audio of a child’s sax lesson as a refreshing corrective to the high-intensity virtuosity and develops into a lovely limpid ballad, and ‘Sky Is The Limit’ ends on a similarly accessible, uplifting note. Pukl uses his impressive resources as a composer to create music that displays the full range of his band’s impressive talents, but there is also a sense of development, striving towards a unified vision where composition, improvisation and texture all combine to produce a highly individual and accessible sound that’s more than the sum of its impressive parts.
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
Whirlwind Recordings
Jure Pukl - tenor & soprano saxophone, bass clairnet; Charles Altura - guitar; Joel Ross - vibraphone; Matt Brewer - double bass; Kweku Sumbry - drums
Slovenian saxist and composer Pukl is thoroughly embedded in the vanguard of young NYC players: he and his wife Melissa Aldana comprising something of a tenor sax power couple on the scene. This latest release features a band of forward-looking coevals in a programme of originals: the unusual guitar/vibes lineup might suggest a chamber jazz feel but the consistent power and sheer unbridled imagination of the astonishing Kweku Sumbry on drums constantly drive the band to greater heights of energy.
Both Joel Ross and Charles Altura are capable of delivering dizzying sweeps of 16th notes, as their playing on opening track ‘Sustained Optimism’ demonstrates, and their tones blend together to create an intriguing texture over which Jukl’s plaintive, sometimes hoarse-toned sax sketches out twisting melodies that skirt around the harmonic centres in a manner that recalls the idiosyncratic post-bop adventurism of Sam Rivers. ‘Broken Circles’ alternates super-tight written unisons with short blowing interludes over a chattering rhythm from Sumbry that evokes his African heritage without being in thrall to it. ‘Separation’ has more of a chamber feel, with Matt Brewer stepping forward from his pivotal role as the band’s anchor to make a considered solo statement. ‘Compassion’ uses the additional ghostly rattling of Chilean kalimba to introduce a pensive soprano-led ballad. ‘Triumph Of Society’ builds through dazzling guitar and drums tours de force into an almost symphonic conclusion.
Pukl switches to dark-toned bass clarinet for a reading of morbid classic ‘Gloomy Sunday’ that provides an album highlight, building from darkness into light. Brewer comes to the fore again for the bustling ‘Half Past Five’, a classic slice of straight-eights odd-meter contemporary jazz: ‘Kids’ opens with some candid audio of a child’s sax lesson as a refreshing corrective to the high-intensity virtuosity and develops into a lovely limpid ballad, and ‘Sky Is The Limit’ ends on a similarly accessible, uplifting note. Pukl uses his impressive resources as a composer to create music that displays the full range of his band’s impressive talents, but there is also a sense of development, striving towards a unified vision where composition, improvisation and texture all combine to produce a highly individual and accessible sound that’s more than the sum of its impressive parts.
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
