Laura Jurd - Stepping Back, Jumping In review | John Lewis's contemporary album of the month

The Guardian 60

(Edition Records)
Another stylistic reinvention from the esteemed trumpeter moves from strident minimalism to orchestrated chaos and fidgety folk

Laura Jurd is a staggeringly good trumpeter – a specialist in hard bop and modal jazz who could hold her own on any jazz bandstand on earth. But one gets the impression that she is constantly pushing against the constraints of whatever lineup she works in. She emerged through the ranks of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, leads the Mercury-nominated electronic jazz-rock band Dinosaur, featured in the atmospheric postrock outfit Blue-Eyed Hawk, and has reinvented classic trumpet works in association with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, most recently playing the Miles Davis role in a reimagining of Sketches of Spain.

Jurd’s solo ventures, however, take her into even weirder territory. Her 2012 solo debut Landing Ground saw her add a string quartet to a jazz trio, while 2015’s Human Spirit pitted Jurd’s horn against the babbling, wordless vocals of Lauren Kinsella. Stepping Back, Jumping In is another massive stylistic reinvention, one that leaps from strident minimalism to orchestrated chaos via fidgety Bartók-like folk forgeries.