Julian Argüelles - Tonadas (EDITION RECORDS July 20, 2018)

European Jazz at its finest blending Spanish roots, Nordic space and sound with one of the brightest and most talented British bands around. 

Tonadas (simply meaning Tunes) is the lyrical and vibrant new quartet album from saxophonist Julian Argüelles. Drawing on his Spanish roots Argüelles has produced a gem - a beautifully warm, harmonically rich and melodic album, abundant with an elegant tone and absorbing colour.

Tonadas has everything you’d want and expect from a contemporary Jazz album, yet it surprises on another level. With shifting turns of phrase and effortlessly flowing band interplay, Argüelles’ growing status as a master composer, bandleader and creator are clear. This music is profoundly joyful and masterfully produced.

With some of the UK’s most dependable, experienced and exciting musicians pianist, Ivo Neame, bassist Sam Lasserson and drummer James Maddren, the rhythm section are flexible and intelligent enough to deliver the promise in Julian Argüelles’ writing and arrangements. Exploratory in feel yet integrated in one strong and committed sound, the album is elegantly poised as possibly one of the great European contemporary Jazz albums of this year. 

For over three decades Julian Argüelles has been at the forefront of European Jazz, working with some of its finest practitioners including musicians of the calibre of Dave Holland, John Taylor, Django Bates, Kenny Wheeler, Phronesis, Mike Gibbs and Carla Bley to name some. With Tonadas, Argüelles has mindfully and boldly crafted a band and composed music that further defines him as a composer and musician for the future and promises to command the attention of fans and critics alike.

1. Alalá

2. Alfama

3. Bulerías

4. Tonadilla

5. Barrio Gótico

6. Alegrías

7. Sevilla

8. Tía Mercedes

Julian Argüelles tenor and soprano saxophones, percussion

Ivo Neame piano

Sam Lasserson double bass

James Maddren drums, percussion

Recorded by Stefano Amerio at ArteSuono, Udine, Italy in November 2017. 

Mixed and mastered by Stefano Amerio in January 2018.

Mário Laginha, Julian Argüelles & Helge Andreas Norbakken - Setembro (EDITION RECORDS 2017)

‘Setembro’ is the brilliantly conceived and executed album from three supremely gifted and creative musical minds in Portuguese pianist Mário Laginha, English saxophonist Julian Argüelles and Norwegian percussionist Helge Andreas Norbakken. Their combined maturity and vision has produced an album of sublime beauty and personality distinguished by effortless and flowing creativity. With propulsive grooves, complex but ever-lyrical melodies, and open-minded interaction ‘Setembro’ demonstrates the vitality and importance of what is great about contemporary jazz in Europe.

Collectively the trio is able to surmount even these individual parts. The warmth of Mário Laginha’s pianism, the percussive energy of Helge Andreas Norbakken and the lyricism and English romanticism of Julian Argüelles bond on an album that is structurally bold, improvisationally audacious, emotionally open and undeniably beautiful. Argüelles has donated two compositions but it’s Mário Laginha who takes the major writing credit with eight songs. The brilliance and inventiveness of his writing illuminates this supremely gifted pianist and composer’s talents and although he’s relatively undiscovered outside Portugal, Setembro will be sure to ignite Mário’s profile throughout Europe and the world.

Rooted in the various traditions of its members, but never less than modern, the music on the album pursues its subtle beat. Take Laginha’s Coisas de Terra. Pulsating with melodic and rhythmic intensity from the start the emphasis quickly shifts, opening a more subtle and emotive vista where the lyricism of Arguelles saxophone and an ostinato figure from the piano intertwine while Norbakken spatters expansive colours from his uniquely diverse percussive setup.

The music is episodic and full of the delights of exploration viewed through the charisma of these great players. With Mário Laginha taking the majority of compositional credit, the aptly titled, Setembro, is an album that explodes in the warmth and energy of a Portuguese late summer in a celebration of what is great about European jazz today.

01. Mãos na Parede (4:55)

02. Fisicamente (5:07)

03. O Primeiro Dia (5:20)

04. Serralves (6:32)

05. Perto de Alguém (7:04)

06. Coisas da Terra (8:42)

07. Hugger Mugger (3:30)

08. Yada Yada (5:49)

09. Horn Please (2:45)

10. Lugar Bem Situado (3:28)

Mário Laginha: piano

Julian Argüelles: saxophones

Helge Andreas Norbakken: percussion

Mário Laginha, Julian Argüelles and Helge Andreas Norbakken - Introducing Setembro (EDITION RECORDS 6th October 2017)

NEW RELEASE

Mário Laginha, Julian Argüelles and Helge Andreas Norbakken

'Introducing Setembro'

We're very excited to introduce to you 'Setembro', the brilliantly conceived and executed album from three supremely gifted and creative musical minds in Portuguese pianist Mário Laginha, English saxophonist Julian Argüelles & Norwegian percussionist Helge Andreas Norbakken.

With propulsive grooves, complex but ever-lyrical melodies, and open-minded interaction ‘Setembro’ demonstrates the vitality and importance of what is great about contemporary jazz in Europe.

PRE-ORDER NOW

LISTEN

READ MORE

Released on 6th October 2017

11th Oct - Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, YO10 5DD

7.30pm. Tickets: http://yorkconcerts.co.uk/programme/lantrio/

13th Oct - The Voice Box, Kensington Mews, Forman St, Derby DE1 1JQ. 8pm. Tickets: https://www.derby-jazz.co.uk

14th Oct - Vortex Jazz Club, 11 Gillett Square, London N16 8AZ. 

8pm. Tickets:  http://www.vortexjazz.co.uk

NEW RELEASES THIS SEPTEMBER...

MALIJA

Instinct

GIRLS IN AIRPORTS

Live

GARY HUSBAND

A Meeting of Spirits

Julian Argüelles - Tetra (2015)

Source & Label: Whirlwind Recorings

Esteemed British saxophonist Julian Argüelles brings his working quartet, Tetra, to Whirlwind in an immersive, hour-long sequence of material written specifically with his colleagues in mind: Kit Downes (piano), Sam Lasserson (bass) and James Maddren (drums).
Known widely as an original member of seminal big band Loose Tubes, as well as for his outstanding compositional and performing involvement with the Frankfurt Radio Big Band, smaller creative ensembles have always been close to Argüelles’ heart, previously recording with such luminaries as Mike Walker, Dave Holland, Martin France and the late John Taylor. In this new release, his respect for, and collaboration with, today’s eclectic strain of younger jazz musicians kindles a mutually imaginative spark with an equal emphasis on composition and freedom of improvisation, often melodically or texturally blurring those divisions.
Having already worked successfully with Downes and Maddren, Argüelles knew that they would possess an innate ability to connect with the complexities of his writing, as well as the spirit to soar extemporarily – and bassist Lasserson was discovered as the perfect rounder of this creative circle. Tetra have toured variously over the last three years, developing and shaping their alliance into this vibrant debut recording which ripples and sings with unpredictability and consummate musicianship.At one stage conceived as a continuous suite (and, to some degree, still expressed that way in a live setting), the album’s eight tracks present an absorbing interconnected flow of grooves and ballads – from the rapid Portugeuse-influenced intensity of “Hurley Burley”, via smouldering “Yada Yada” which increasingly surges to latitudinous, gritty tenor, through to the charming soprano playfulness of “Hocus Pocus”. Argüelles’ writing revels in the thrill of diversity, the serene Spanish lilt of ten-minute “Nitty Gritty” contrasting markedly with the wide-swinging ebullience of “Iron Pyrite”; and beautiful, melodious “Asturias” has its origins in the leader’s transcriptions of solo vocal folk music from north-west Spain.
Kit Downes’ summation of the bandleader’s music – “there’s a lot of room for being myself, and being creative in it” – speaks volumes about Argüelles’ empathy with the distinguished musicians he surrounds himself with, especially when he also challenges with so many technically tricksy grooves and ideas. As Maddren puts it, “His compositions are so strong… they really affect and influence the way you improvise, which I find really exciting.”
This is just the beginning, as Julian Arguëlles has ambitions for Tetra to evolve, looking to achieve music which is accessible yet multi-layered, with real depth and interest which might engage intellectually and/or emotionally. “First and foremost, I’m an improviser, and this is a band I feel very comfortable with.”

01. Hugger Mugger 01:43
02. Yada Yada 06:13
03. Hurley Burley 07:38
04. Hocus Pocus 07:00
05. Nitty Gritty 10:36
06. Asturias 08:16
07. Fugue 05:40
08. Iron Pyrite 10:23

Julian Argüelles - saxophones
Kit Downes - piano
Sam Lasserson - bass
James Maddren - drums

BUY THIS ALBUM