Urs Leimgruber: 13 Pieces For Saxophone

Eminent Swiss saxophonist Urs Leimgruber has been a fixture, primarily within European jazz and improvisational dominions. Unlike many other free-wheeling solo saxophone ventures, the artist renders a cumulative discourse of enticing notions on 13 Pieces For Saxophone. He's an intense conversationalist, while frequently concentrating his improvisational output within a given register. Among other notions, this characteristic adds quite a bit of distinction to the sum of the intricately exercised parts, as he aims to excite one's neural network.

All of these works are catalogued in ascending numerical fashion as the album title suggests. On the energized "Three he conjures up pops and hissing tones amid his multifaceted phrasings. It sounds uncannily like LP surface noise, yet he is apt to put the listener in trance-mode during the whirling-dervish lines of attack he creates on "Six.

Many of these pieces are engineered upon cantankerous and frenetic voicings, occasionally interspersed with wit and unanticipated shifts in direction. Therefore, and this is a good thing, Leimgruber plots out a musical course that intimates a divergent track mix. Don't worry; he won't lull you into boredom.

One of the highlights includes his ability to sustain a single high-note within one continuous cycle on "Nine. Sure, this has been done before, although he throws a variable into the plot by intermittently injecting a semblance of electronic interference into the acoustic element. It's as though an A/C current found its way into his game-plan. Simply stated, this is one of the premier solo sax jaunts in quite some time. With that notion in mind, hopefully this gem doesn't get overlooked.