I've heard many say that Jazz had lost its way in the past decade but I say they are very wrong. This past decade gave us such great Jazz artists as Christian McBride, Gregory Porter, Jon Baptiste, and many others. Right now there is a Jazz explosion happening in the U.K. and other countries of Europe like Slovenia. Upcoming jazz saxophonist Jure Pukl is one such artist to watch. He studied both jazz and classical saxophone at the University of Vienna and Graz, he also studied at the famous Berklee College of Music in Boston. Born in Velenje, Slovenia he started playing classical music at 8 years old on a recorder. Then he learned to play the clarinet but says his heart wasn't in it. Jure says he actually wanted to be a rock guitarist and in his teens, he formed a garage band and this motivated him to pick up the alto saxophone. So what got him into jazz you may ask, he says he asked his father to bring back Maceo Parker records for him, and instead he brought Charlie Parker records. The sound of Charlie Parker's bebop style made him crazy. Jure Pukl says it didn't make sense to him because he felt there was no groove but found he couldn't stop listening to the albums either. This is what led him to come to the U.S. and study at Berklee.
Since that time he has made many strides in his music, he has played with some of the best in jazz from Esperanza Spalding, Vijay Iyer, Jeff"Tain" Watts, and many others including his wife, well-known saxophonist, Melissa Aldana. His latest album will be released in February of 2021 called Broken Circles. He recorded it because he didn't like what he was seeing in the world. Jure Pukl says "it's a call to arms for the people worldwide to treat each other with greater respect." Also on his album is jazz vibraphonist, Joel Ross, an indie jazz artist already creating big noise in the jazz world. Jure Pukl now lives in New York City where jazz is vibrant. Check out this socially conscious saxophonist and support independent music and musicians worldwide. Happy listening.
Sustained Optimism
