This is saxophonist, composer and Loose Tubes alumnus Julian Argüelles’s second release in six months, but it’s markedly different from his South Africa-dedicated Let It Be Told. Tetra joins him with some of the UK’s leading younger jazz musicians in the form of Kit Downes on piano and the powerful bass and drums duo of Sam Lasserson and James Maddren, displaying Argüelles’ consistent talent for freewheeling jazz ventures packed with striking compositions. Hugger Mugger is a graceful lullaby, Yada Yada and Iron Pyrite stealthy tenor-sax murmurs over steady tattoos that become imperious, Joe Lovano-like discourses. Hocus Pocus showcases Argüelles’s imagination and tone control on soprano, which becomes balletic and skittish, Nitty Gritty and Asturias are lilting song-like pieces reflecting his interest in jazz adaptations of Spanish vocal music. Downes is fluently inventive on grooves and fascinating in self-contained episodes such as his intro to the serpentine Fugue, and Maddren and Lasserson are crucial to this vibrant music’s foreground as much as its underpinnings. This is a jazz album to its core, yet full of non-generic surprises.
