15th August 2023: Jure Pukl’s ANOROK band releases ‘Melt’ featuring Joe Sanders, Peter Evans and Nasheet Waits for OCT 13

We’re happy to announce the 4th Whirlwind Release for Slovenian Jure Pukl – MELT by his band ANOROK

OCT 13 2023 (CD / DL)
DEC (LP)

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 and spiced with Jure’s real-time experiments with electronica. 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?” ‘Curse’ 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, ‘Cute’ is a simple ballad, as direct and appealing as the title suggests. ‘Birds 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 BLM movement and to lives needlessly lost to brutality across the world. The searing tenor exploration on ‘Metallique’ 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 to what Pulk feels are the dehumanizing forces of capitalism. By contrast, ‘Corals’ is a simple, lyrical reflection of Jure’s love and respect for the sea, showing his strong affinity for melody and mood.  Peter Evans takes flight on ‘The Hunt’ with its clear links to the groundbreaking Coleman/Cherry free quartets: “Peter’s like a tsumani – 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.