Jure Pukl - Doubtless (2018)

As New York-based saxophonist and composer Jure Pukl enthuses, 'Doubtless' is pretty much a family project/album - an exuberant, high-spirited double-tenor quartet with wife Melissa Aldana plus close friends Joe Hutchinson (double bass) and Greg Hutchinson (drums).

Both saxophonists have multifarious musical interests between them - Pukl's vibrant four-piece release, Hybrid with pianist Matija Dedic, released last year on Whirlwind; and Aldana's four albums as leader have garnered a raft of reviews praising her indubitable invention.

Yet here is a creative circle so organically conjoined that the entire session was captured inside three hours, live in the studio in Jure Pukl's home country of Slovenia, on the back of workshops and tour schedules.

Drive is perceptible in an album whose extemporary freedom is complemented by attractive melodic hooks - from the flowering, canonic phrases of ebullient "Doubtless" to a more lyrical horn partnership in elegantly waltzing "Doves", albeit with sparky drum-and-bass undercurrent. Other tracks include Ornette Coleman's lesser-known "InterSong" was a pleasing find for Pukl, his captivatingly intuitive explorations with Aldana widening into sizzling restlessness; and Joe Sanders' "Eliote" (for his newborn son) is full of leaping bass figures, perky rhythms and extended tenor intervals.

Jure Pukl, Melissa Aldana (tenor saxophone)
Joe Sanders (double bass)
Gregory Hutchinson (drums)