Phronesis - The Behemoth

The Guardian 80

(Edition)

Much of this memorable music was introduced by European power-trio Phronesis alongside the distinguished Frankfurt Radio Big Band at the 2015 London jazz festival – composed by bassist Jasper Høiby, pianist Ivo Neame and drummer Anton Eger, and imaginatively arranged for orchestra by Julian Argüelles. Argüelles, who learned a raft of radical approaches to big-band jazz in his years with Loose Tubes, mixes a quietly precise melodic fluency in the horn parts that sometimes echoes Gil Evans, and even the 1940s Birth of the Cool band, with the whimsical busyness of the Tubes and his own fondness for folk music. Classic hard-rocking Phronesis buildups – of muscular Høiby intros, slowly coalescing Neame piano breaks, and incandescent drum finales – break out all over the session. The pieces span the brisk phrase-swapping and Latin vibe of OK Chorale, the drum-buffeting, horn-shouting Herne Hill, and Argüelles’ sleek tenor sax, taking on a Herbie Hancock/Miles Davis small-band feel on Urban Control. There’s plenty for Phronesis fans, and for big-band jazz admirers, too.