The signs were there on earlier album 2024’s Transmission that suddenly a significant new jazz-rock guitar presence in guitarist-composer Karim Saber had emerged on the UK jazz scene fully fledged.
If anything Sundance underlines that hunch and seems so much more confident and personal. The writing is even stronger and just as characterful.
There’re plenty of raw emotion and passion here whether developed in the electronics that shroud the guitar or the thrusting, no nonsense saxophone playing of tenorist Matt Cook.
It’s a fully rounded sound shaped around a ballsy rhythm section and lots of boisterous soloing from Saber as on the at times folk motif flecked ‘Purpose.’
The vocals from German singer Aitzi Cofre Real add balm, a mysterious wordlessness to material like the stealthy tones of ‘Sister Song’ and shine another light on what makes Saber’s writing tick. They don’t jolt or prove a distraction, more form part of a holistic ecosystem.
There’s a great triplet feel to some of the looser passages and found dotted all over when the band powers on the density of notes and pianist Alex Wilson is able to stretch out.
Saber is an eloquent soloist and you get a lot folded into a solo like the one he does on ‘Sister Song’. John Jones’ bass work expertly measures out the beat and in tandem with drummer Jack Thomas cultivates authority and acumen in equal quantity.
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