Jure Pukl / Anorok - melt

Saxophonist & composer Jure Pukl is an artist without borders. The musical journey that started with a garage rock band in his native Slovenia has taken him across continents, to classical studies in Vienna and Den Haag, to Berklee College of Music in Boston and the forefront of the jazz scene in New York City, and now back to Europe at the helm of a group of some of the most forward-looking and exciting players working out of the NYC cutting edge.

Melt brings everything together to continue his exploration of the chordless format with long-time associates Joe Sanders on bass and Nasheet Waits on drums, augmented by free-wheeling trumpet star Peter Evans in the frontline along Pukl on tenor sax. The new quartet set out across a post-Pandemic Europe, armed with a set of Jure’s tunes that allowed a maximum of freedom to explore groove, texture, and melody – “With this music, I didn’t arrange too much - it developed on the gigs, with the trust we built on the road, with three of the greatest musicians I know.”

Each tune captures a different concept, feeling or statement. ‘Slippery’ emerges from a free group improv into a skipping, sliding bass-driven melody ‘like a person falling on ice - slippery in terms of how life can be slippery’. For ‘Balkanoid’, Jure had the group improvise at the edge of extended technique before breaking into an almost folkloric melody conjuring up his homeland to ask “Why life is still so hard in the Balkans?” ‘Cruise’ has Nasheet and Joe cooking up a mutant funk beat over which the horns go wild, while at the other end of the emotional spectrum, ‘Let it Go’ is a simple ballad, as direct and appealing as the title suggests. ‘Bird In A Cage’ is a short powerful statement that seems to yearn for a way to break out from its constrictions.

‘Lost’ is a reaction to the plight of the immigrant, and to lives needlessly lost to brutality across the world. The searing tenor exploration on ‘Metallurgic’ is driven by Joe Sander’s powerful bassline: he’s at the heart of the music throughout. “Joe will bring something else - he’s a risk taker, he goes for it. His catchphrase is "Let’s do it.’’ The tune was written as a critique of what Pukl feels are the dehumanizing forces of capitalism. By contrast, ‘Vunerable’ is a simple, lyrical reflection of Jure’s realization on how fragile human life can be within the world. Peter Evans takes flight on ‘The Hunt’ with its clear links to the groundbreaking Coleman/Cherry free quartets: “Peter’s like a tsunami - he can play a LOT of trumpet. He’s a fearless improviser. I don’t have to explain to him what to do.”

The album’s genesis across a series of live shows is apparent in the high levels of empathy and cohesion on display. Sander’s driving basslines mesh with Nasheet’s polyrhythms, slipping effortlessly from hard-edged groove to freeform, inspiring Jure and Peter Evans to some remarkable feats of solo emotional expression until the group magically cohere back around Jure’s deceptively simple melodies. “I chose ‘Melt’ as the title - because we melted together acoustic and electronic - because the band blended together so well - and also because I feel like I’m melting - my whole life is changing.” It’s both the latest step in a journey and a strong statement that stands alone.