JAZZ
BY ANDY COWAN
Cole Pulice
★★★★
Land’s End Eternal
LEAVING. CD/DL/LP
Meditative ambient jazz offering from prolific Oakland saxophonist and sonic manipulator.
Loosely predicated around their compositional interactions with an electric guitar, sax improvisor Cole Pulice breaks new ground here. Worked through a series of pedals, Pulice’s altar and tenor saxes play call and response with fractured six-string strums on fantasia After The Rain, gaining a depth of expression enhanced by subtly controlled glissando, pitch-bends and slapback delay amid opener Fragments Of A Slipstream Dream’s muffled wind synths. Titled after a luminous spot at San Francisco’s Land’s End Park, three-part centrepiece In A Hidden Nook Between Worlds alternates between whimsy and wide-eyed wonder as Pulice’s wavering notes twist and shapeshift over glacial backings. Infused with whispery traces of their Bay Area forebears (Terry Riley, Pharoah Sanders, Patrick Shiroishi) it’s easy to get lost in playing so yearning and expansive, tailor-made for deep contemplation.