Artist: Urban Jazz Quintet

Date of Release:

Catalogue no: UB-02

Label: Urban Beauty Productions

Price: £12

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Track Listing

Appearances by

Julian Arguelles, Michael Buckley, Peter King, Stephen Keogh

From the cream of the UK and Irish Jazz scenes comes one of the most exciting, creative new bands in Europe today. Three very original horn players, Michael Buckley, Peter King and Julian Arguelles make up a dynamic front line, locked in by one of the strongest rhythm partnerships in the game, Stephen Keogh and Jeremy Brown. Five outstanding musicians, from two of the best Irish voices of their respective generations in Michael Buckley and Stephen Keogh, to the brilliance of Peter King, numbered among Europe's most influential alto saxophonists. All members write for the group, which has lead to very diverse and interesting material including groove based tunes, hard swinging, coolfunk and free form to rich soulfull ballads. The band plays with great spirit of freedom and has developed its own unique sound. Expect group interaction on the highest level with plenty of flashes of individual brilliance. THIS BAND IS NEW, FRESH AND PACKED WITH CREATIVE TALENT

JEREMY BROWN-BASS, STEPHEN KEOGH-DRUMS, MICHAEL BUCKLEY-FLUTE & SAXOPHONES, PETER KING- SAXOPHONES, JULIAN ARGUELLES SAXOPHONES

Reviews

01/01/2003 The Guardian 4*

"The very fine quintet was founded by Irish drummer Stephen Keogh and bassist Jeremy Brown last year. This disc also features three high-class saxophonists (Julian Arguelles, Michael Buckley and Peter King) on eight originals by the band-members. The arrangements make the three-reed front-line (Buckley adds contrast with the flute) sound bigger than it is, and Brown and Keogh are a springy and dynamic straightahead rhythm section. The solos, meanwhile, are superb, and fully exploit the players' contrasting styles.

The fast, linear, Lennie Tristano-like feel of Arguelles's fastbop Arco Iris will bring a tear to the eyes of the more nostalgic of jazz fans. There are sonorous ballads in which the saxes curl exquisitely round each other, riffy uptempo themes (King's Cool Street), yearning contrapuntal ensembles over contrastingly fierce drumming (Buckley's Urban-net), and a little baleful, TV cop-show funk.

Straightahead jazz, but with some idiosyncratic kinks".