Julian Arguelles: ‘Echo Fields’

Taking a cheeky cue from Edward Elgar, Julian Arguelles has dedicated his new album - ‘Echo Fields’ - to “my friends pictured within”: there is definitely a sense of acknowledging the giants he has known and played with.

There is a touching sense of completeness in holding a copy of Echo Fields in my hand, as there was in seeing Julian live at the 606 Club (you can read my review here).

The reference to Elgar comes alongside track 5 - Nimrod - which is Arguelles’ own arrangement of the Variation IX (Adagio) from the Enigma Variations. This is a lovely rendition, with the recognisable melody adapted perfectly for the jazz trio setting. The other tunes on Echo Fields are all originals.

Some of the finest sax players in the world have employed the chordless trio - most particularly for me in the music of Gerry Mulligan. This works particularly well for Arguelles, with Larry Grenadier (bass) and Jorge Rossy (drums).

They all come together on the intense The Canary’s Song which seems less about a bird in a gilded cage and more about the free flight of a bird in the wild.

Julian began his professional life as a sax player with the incomparable Loose Tubes in the 1980s: he still looks the same to me, but there is a maturity to his player which has grown through the intervening years. Awards include a Fellowship from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire for his services to jazz in 2017 and a Parliamentary Jazz Award in 2016 for his CD Let it be Told. He is currently professor of jazz saxophone at the Institute of Jazz, Graz, Austria.

Everything about Julian’s composition and improvisations seems very considered and deliberate. Performed live with a different ensemble in London, they were still tunes that resonated and felt complete. The Invisible Thread seems to draw the whole collection together, with a winsome sax - the trio format really allows for space and reflection from each player.

‘Echo Fields’ will be available on Bandcamp on its release 27 March 2026.