Julian Arguelles’ Tetra, The Hive Music & Media Centre, Shrewsbury, 18/06/2016.

I’ve been admirer of the music of saxophonist and composer Julian Arguelles since the late 1980s when he first came to prominence as the youngest member of the seminal British big band Loose Tubes, the young twenty plus strong ensemble that burst across the sky of the British jazz firmament like a comet leaving three superb, but still currently unavailable, albums in its wake.

Loose Tubes was to make stars of many of its leading performers and the stellar line up included Django Bates, Iain Ballamy, Mark Lockheart, Chris Batchelor, Martin France and many others, among them Julian’s older brother, drummer Steve Arguelles. In 2014/15 Loose Tubes re-united for a series of festival appearances including Cheltenham, Brecon and Gateshead playing a mixture of old favourites and newly commissioned music. The performances were brilliant, it was as if they’d never been away, and the spirit of the band, a unique mixture of anarchy and discipline, was still very much intact nearly a quarter of a century on. Although the Tubes’ three studio albums remain out of print Django Bates has dipped into the live archives and has released a very welcome series of concert recordings on his own Lost Marble imprint.

Since the initial demise of Loose Tubes – the band contained so many individual talents that it was bound to implode sooner rather than later-  I’ve continued to assiduously follow the solo careers of its members, and none more so than Julian Arguelles. His 1991 leadership début “Phaedrus” announced the presence of a major new presence on the British jazz scene, a quartet album that revealed Arguelles’ huge talent as a writer as pianist John Taylor, drummer Martin France and bassist Mick Hutton helped to give voice to his multi-faceted compositions. 

Arguelles has since recorded a string of albums in a variety of formats ranging from solo to big band. In doing so he has worked with leading jazz musicians from the UK, Europe and the US, maintaining a remarkably high standard of creativity throughout. It’s probably fair to say that all of the music that he has committed to disc is well worth hearing and that much of it is indispensable.

In 2014 Arguelles released “Circularity”, his first album in an orthodox jazz quartet setting for more than twenty years. Released on the Italian Cam Jazz imprint it was an excellent recording and featured an all star British cast of Martin France at the drums, US domiciled Dave Holland on double bass and the late great John Taylor on piano. 

This was hardly the kind of line up that was going to go out on the road and with his passion for the quartet format renewed Arguelles set about about forming a new group featuring some of the UK’s top up and coming musicians. The new band was called Tetra and featured Kit Downes on piano, Sam Lasserson on double bass and James Maddren on drums, a pride of young lions who these days are nearly as busy as their illustrious predecessors.

In 2015 the new quartet released “Tetra”, the album, on Michael Janisch’s Whirlwind Recordings label. The record was right up there with Arguelles’ best, a beguiling mix of sophisticated writing and great playing. I was also fortunate enough to witness a superb performance of the album material at the Parabola Arts Centre as part of the 2015 Cheltenham Jazz Festival by an extended line up which saw the core quartet augmented by George Crowley (saxophones, bass clarinet), Percy Pursglove (trumpet, flugelhorn) and Kieran McLeod (trombone). 

From being the ‘baby’ of the Loose Tubes line up Arguelles has developed into a relative ‘elder statesman’ of UK jazz (he’s still only fifty), a British musician with an international reputation. A supremely versatile musician he plays all of the four main members of the saxophone family (soprano, alto,tenor and baritone) and is also highly skilled composer and arranger. His recent big band projects have included collaborations with the Frankfurt Radio Big Band, notably on the album “Let It Be Told” which features his arrangements of tunes by the Blue Notes, the group of South African emigres who did so much to inspire and transform the British jazz scene of the 60s and 70s and who remain a huge influence today. The recording also includes appearances by Django Bates and Steve Arguelles. Also working with the FRBB he arranged the compositions of the piano trio Phronesis for big band and conducted the trio alongside the FRBB at a momentous performance at Milton Court Concert Hall as part of the 2015 EFG London Jazz Festival.

In the context of Tetra Arguelles concentrates on tenor and soprano saxophones and for his eagerly awaited Shrewsbury début he brought along the full album line up of Downes, Lasserson and Maddren. As a son of the Midlands (he was born in Birmingham) it was surprising that this was the first time That Arguelles had appeared in Shrewsbury and The Hive was particularly well attended for this visit by one of the most respected figures in British jazz. Ironically all the others members of Tetra had visited the Hive before, Downes twice, leading his trio and quintet with both line ups including Maddren, and Lasserson appearing more recently as part of a quartet led by pianist Andrew McCormack.

I had been expecting the Tetra Quartet to play most of the music from the album of the same name, rather like the aforementioned septet had done at Cheltenham. But Arguelles and his colleagues are jazz musicians, and jazz musicians never stand still. Instead we heard just one piece from “Tetra” the album as Arguelles introduced a number of new pieces, presumably written specifically for this band, as well as delving into his extensive back catalogue.

The performance began with a segue of two compositions, commencing with the brief “From One JC to Another”, Arguelles’ dedication to his English born father. Wispy unaccompanied tenor sax introduced the first piece, subsequently joined by piano, bass and brushed drums in a series of freely structured, undulating suspirations that fostered an almost incantatory atmosphere. The clatter of Maddren’s sticks on rims heralded the arrival of the lengthier “Boleras”, a joyous celebration of Arguelles’ Spanish roots with its flamenco inspired rhythms and folk tinged melodies. Arguelles’ labyrinthine tenor solo demonstrated his often astonishing technical prowess and was a master-class in improvisational fluency but remained melodically focussed at all times. Downes’ appropriately Latin-esque solo at the keyboard featured strong left hand rhythmic figures and lightly skipping right hand flourishes. Meanwhile Lasserson and Maddren impressed with their intricate rhythmical dialogues in the tune’s closing stages. A great start.

A word of explanation – Arguelles father was English, his mother Spanish. On becoming professional musicians both Steve and Julian opted to use the Arguelles name rather than the more prosaic English alternative of Clarke.

Arguelles informed us that he had recently acquired his soprano saxophone from no less a luminary than Evan Parker and that this tour was the first time that he had taken the instrument (“the new pointy one”) on the road. He certainly put it through its paces on “Lardy Dardy”, a piece that has been in his repertoire for several years and finally made it onto disc on “Circularity”. Lasserson introduced the piece with a remarkable passage of solo double bass including some incredible, almost prehensile, fingering techniques. The bass motif that eventually emerged formed the backbone of the tune which included a further feature for Lasserson, his melodic solo bookended by the contributions of Downes on piano and Arguelles on subtly probing soprano.

Also from the “Circularity” album came the title track which saw Arguelles switching back to tenor to deliver the tricky, complex theme, occasionally reminiscent of the music of Ornette Coleman. However despite the intricacies of the writing an underlying sense of melody was always present even when the quartet was broken down into smaller sub-units to incorporate musical conversations between Downes and Maddren and then Arguelles and Lasserson. This was sometimes spiky music with plenty of improvisational gristle and muscle, sometimes challenging for the listener but ultimately uplifting thanks to its combination of craftsmanship and energy.

The first set ended with “Mr Mc”, Arguelles’ dedication to the late South African pianist and composer Chris McGregor, with whom Arguelles once played as part of the group Brotherhood of Breath. Arguelles explained that he had written two tunes in McGregor’s honour, one of which, a ballad was to appear in the second set. But this first homage was a celebration with its quirky, mercurial theme and a bustling energy that saw Arguelles deliver a stunning, marathon solo with the group in saxophone trio mode as Downes temporarily sat out. With Lasserson and Maddren delivering a liquidly propulsive rhythmic flow Arguelles surfed the wave in a manner that was reminiscent of Sonny Rollins at his best. Downes had to follow this on electric piano, as ever rising manfully to the challenge.

The Shrewsbury audience loved this highly charged first set, fully appreciating the sophistication of the writing and the superior quality of the musicianship. This was jazz of the highest order, full of creative energy and a high level of group interaction.

The beginning of the second set saw Arguelles delving deep into his personal history with the inclusion of “Phaedrus”, the title track of his début album and a piece that has been played in formats ranging from duo (Arguelles and John Taylor) to big band (the FRBB) and has sounded thoroughly convincing and absolutely wonderful in all of them. It’s simply a classic, timeless, indestructible melody and still sounds as fresh as the day it was written with solos here coming from Arguelles on tenor plus Lasserson and Downes. However it’s true that you do learn something new every day and today was the first time that I’d heard Arguelles explain the provenance of the title, apparently “Phaedrus” was a character in Robert M. Pirsig’s philosophical novel “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” (1974). I remember struggling with this book when I was a teenager and frankly being completely baffled by it.  Having tried and failed it promptly dropped out of my consciousness again – until this evening.

“Asturias” was the only composition from “Tetra” to get an airing this evening. Based on transcriptions of folk songs from the Spanish region of Asturias the piece was originally written for the NDR Big Band in Hamburg but, like “Phaedrus”, also works superbly in other formats such as this quartet. Maddren introduced the piece with a well constructed and innately musical solo drum passage, subsequently being joined by Lasserson on bass and Arguelles on tenor sax. The combination of exotic Iberian rhythms and joyously arresting folk melodies made Arguelles’ personal interpretation of jazz’s ‘Spanish tinge’ (a phrase coined by Jelly Roll Morton) a fascinating and enjoyable listening delight. Solos here came from Lasserson on bass, Downes on piano and the composer on tenor with Maddren offering richly colourful but delicately nuanced rhythmic support throughout.

The second “Mr Mc” proved to be the ballad recorded by Arguelles on the album “Home Truths” from way back in 1995. This featured the composer on soprano sax and was said to be based on a well known classical composition, although Arguelles didn’t specify which one it might have been. I certainly didn’t know (and omitted to ask Julian afterwards) but I also thought I detected a hint of Scottish folk melody in there too, Arguelles lived in Scotland for a number of years before eventually returning to London.

The song titles on “Tetra” largely follow in the spirit of the earlier “Lardy Dardy” -“Hurley Burley and “Hocus Pocus” are just two of them. The new tune “Tin Tin” seemed to be cut from the same cloth , introduced by Lasserson at the bass and featuring exuberant ,marathon solos from Arguelles on tenor and Downes on piano.

The closing “Triality” marked a return to the complexities of the “Circularity” album material with its complex, mercurial, ‘turn on a dime’ melodic motifs forming the basis for a lengthy saxophone trio style workout instigated by Lasserson and Maddren and featuring more thrillingly fluent improvising from Arguelles on a piece that sometimes brought back memories of “Partita”, the 2006 trio album that Arguelles recorded with the American rhythm team of Michael Formanek (double bass) and Tom Rainey (drums). The interplay between Arguelles and his rhythm team was absorbing and thrilling as Downes again took something of a back seat. With no acoustic piano available Downes had not been particularly well served by the electric piano provided for him but this most versatile of keyboard players still found plenty of good things to say over the course of the evening. Overall though his profile was lower than it might otherwise have been. By way of balance we did get to hear plenty of Lasserson, his huge tone and melodic sensibility stood out on his numerous solos but he also made a terrific contribution to the group sound as a whole, very much the bedrock of the music. It was easy to see why he has become such an in demand musician in recent years.

The well deserved encore found Arguelles actually revisiting the “Partita” album with “Peace for D”, another dedication to a deceased South African musician but again a celebration with its gentle Township inspired theme and series call and response solos featuring all four musicians with the leader himself on tenor. 

Julian Arguelles’ first visit to Shrewsbury was a great success with the large audience giving Tetra a warm and appreciative reception. The quartet had built upon the promise of the first half, maintaining the high standards of composition and playing throughout. Arguelles presented the performance with the easy, slightly eccentric, warmth that has also led to him becoming a leading jazz educator. As Shrewsbury Jazz Network’s Laurie Grey informed us during his introduction Arguelles currently holds a professorship at the University of Graz in Austria.

I was tempted to dock this performance half a star due to the condition of the electric piano but the playing of these four exceptional musicians plus the enthusiasm of the audience reaction raised this concert to the level ‘of an event’. A well deserved four stars, then.