Jure Pukl - Doubtless (INNER CIRCLE MUSIC 2018)

Jure Pukl was awarded with the highest national award for Arts in Slovenia (Nagrada Prešernovega sklada 2015) and is one of the most profilic and creative saxophonists of the younger Slovene jazz generation. Pukl obtained university education abroad, he studied classical and jazz saxophone at the University in Vienna as well as at the Haag Conservatory of Music. Pukl then won a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music, where he pursued his studies with masters such as Joe Lovano and George Garzone. He completed his masters degree in music at the Graz Academy of Music.

Throughout his studies Pukl performed and recorded extensively, being engaged in his own projects, as well as working with a number of great musicians such as Branford Marsalis, Dave Liebman, Esperanza Spalding, George Lewis, Vijay Iyer, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Damion Reid, Darius Jones, Doug Hammond, Gerald Cleaver, Adam Rogers, Melissa Aldana, Rodney Green, Charles Altura, Joe Sanders, Aaron Goldberg, Marcus Gilmore, Gregory Hutchinson, Johnathan Blake and orchestras like Big Band RTV Slovenia, European Jazz Orchestra, European Movement Jazz Orchestra, Vienna Saxophone Quartet, Nouvele Cousine and many others.

He has been touring extensively throughout USA, Asia and Europe performing in venues such as Blue Note Milan, Smalls Jazz Club, The Jazz Gallery, Ronnie Scotts, The Vortex, Pizza Express, Porgy & Bess, Stadtgarten and festivals like Moers Jazz Festival, Vienna Jazz Festival, Pori Jazz Festival, Berlin Jazz Festival, Jazz a Vienne, Cairo Jazz Festival, to name a few. His music has won him many awards; among others the 2005 first Jury Prize and Best Composition Audience Award at the Jazzon International Music Workshop and Festival in Novo mesto, Slovenia.

In his auctorial projects, such as the Virus quintet, Abstract Society or Sound Pictures (receive rave reviews, among others on the influential Downbeat, Jazzwise, Jazzpodium and Allaboutjazz Web portal) Pukl dedicates himself to modern interpretations of jazz. What he creates is a unique type of modern jazz, avantgarde, free jazz and impressionistic contemporary music performed with a great deal of knowledge and love, giving prominence to the interplay between band members. He already published 8 CD’s under his own name recieved rave reviews all over the globe. He is featured on more than 50 other projects as a sideman.

"Jure Pukl & Melissa Aldana play as one throughout and with the support of Joe Sanders and greg Hutchinson the music is rich with a passionate expression taht is timeless... Jure put together a beautiful recording taht flows like the wind" - Joe Lovano

“Jure Pukl is a brilliant saxophonist who is forging an honest and original path in contemporary improvised music. His playing and compositions evoke a humanistic quality that is, full of expression and spirit. If a spirited, well defined, singular voice is what you’re looking for, Jure is the answer.” - Greg Osby

“…Pukl combines the skill, soul, and appetite for adventure that has fuelled jazz evolution from the beginning, and he’s a rising star of a creative new generation that is energetically driving the music on into its second century.” - John Fordham | The Guardian

1. Doubtless

2. Doves

3. Intersong

4. Eliote

5. Compassion

6. Elsewhere

7. The Mind and the Soul

8. Where Are You Coming From

9. Bad Year Good Year 

Jure Pukl - tenor saxophone

Melissa Aldana - tenor saxophone

Joe Sanders - doublebass

Gregory Hutchinson - drums

All music composed by Jure Pukl except Elsewhere composed by Melissa Aldana, Elioté by Joe Sanders and Intersong by Ornette Coleman.

Recorded at RSL Studio Novo mesto, Slovenia in March 2017. Mixed and mastered by David Stoller at the Samurai Hotel Recording Studio in Astoria, NY in September 2017.