It’s the moments when he doesn’t quite make it that mark Julian Argüelles out as an exceptional musician.
Many lesser players are content to play within themselves, but the Birmingham-born saxophonist is constantly pushing himself, searching for new melodies, new ideas, new paths to the harmonic waterfall.
If he doesn’t always make it, if there are moments when his big, generous sound cracks or squeaks, that’s part of the richness of his sound world, evidence of his honesty as an improviser.
The former Loose Tubes man’s current quartet is drawn from a new generation of UK musicians: pianist Kit Downes, bassist Sam Lasserson and drummer James Maddren have one ear on jazz history and the other on a brave new post-genre world, and their playing is worthy of the leader’s memorable tunes.
