Born into a musical family in 1989 Josh was lucky enough to start saxophone lessons with the legendary Pee Wee Ellis when he was 13. At 18 he gained a place on the renowned jazz course at the Royal Academy of Music - he has just graduated with a 1st class degree, as well as winning a 2011 Yamaha Parliamentary Jazz Scholarship and the Kenny Wheeler Jazz Prize (the prize itself being a recording contract with Edition, hence this debut release). He has also received awards from the EMI Music Sound Foundation and MBF Young Talent. The first thing that hits home with Beginnings tenor saxophonist Josh Arcoleo s debut CD - is its timelessness. It s immediately modern and wonderfully assured and yet the entire tradition of jazz s first instrument seems to flow through it. Arcoleo has a highly personal tone on his horn and there s an individuality about his sound that is commanding but not idiosyncratic, eloquent and never verbose. Some musicians take years to learn these lessons and others never do. Josh Arcoleo, just 23 with already plenty of road miles under his belt, definitely has gravitas, that rarest of qualities, and he has it in spades.
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Josh Arcoleo is a prizewinning saxophonist from the Royal Academy of Music's jazz stable, and a debut on the astute Edition label (which has introduced, among others, young Norwegian sax firebrand Marius Neset) is no accident. Arcoleo is only 23, but he sounds as if he has covered a lot of mileage. Tenorists Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson are among his models, but for much of this fine album he deploys something of Wayne Shorter's hypnotic tentativeness, and the melodic style of the Cool School-inspired Mark Turner. Arcoleo's dark, hooting sound edges into softly grooving intros as if he's not sure of his welcome. Then come solos that develop from painterly brushstrokes to searing intensity. His ballad tone is rich and smoky on ruminations such as Glade and Kite Flight. The title track has a patient symmetry that becomes an abstract multiphonic rawness, confirming his composing strengths and technical breadth. Bassist Calum Gourlay, drummer James Maddren, from Kit Downes' band, and pianist Ivo Neame give this imposing newcomer immaculate support.
(The Guardian)
