John Fordham 

Pulcinella: Bestiole review – wild but immaculately played jazz

The accordion- and sax-led quartet's painterly, atmospheric songs are irrepressible, writes John Fordham
  
  

Jazz quartet Pulcinella
Gallic Led Bib… jazz quartet Pulcinella Photograph: PR

Pulcinella are a variously hectic, painterly and atmospheric accordion- and sax-led quartet, and on this irrepressible set, they are augmented by trombone and mandolin. Bestiole suggests a kind of Gallic Led Bib, as fairground-roundabout sax/accordion themes turn to hooting one-note figures, smears and low-end honks. But then a gentle, rising sax melody becomes a swaying jazz solo; a slow strut with languidly interweaving horn and mandolin lines has its Carla Bley moments; a bowed-bass chugs a groove under chirruping, Hermeto Pascoal-like flutes, and pumping accordion ostinatos are pecked at by rimshots. A slow tenor melody emerges that touches on In a Silent Way, and Friedrich Burgmuller's La Tarentelle is taken through phases of accordion-whirling, baritone-sax blurting and stagey swoonings. It's wild, but immaculately played, and Pulcinella's affection for good songs from any source is very evident.

 

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