Drummer and composer Dan Kurfirst has recently stepped out into the spotlight as a bandleader, forming his Arkinetics band and recording his debut album of the same name.
Kurfirst is a protégé of Adam Rudolph, as are several members of his five-piece band. Arkinetics also benefits from the contributions of Downtown legend Daniel Carter who is equally badassed at both trumpet and saxophone.
But this is Kurfirst’s show all the way and this record is about how he’s taken Rudolph’s innovative ideas for fusing world music with jazz and put his own twist on it. The stew Kurfirst has concocted blends in ingredients of early jazz-rock fusion, ethno-fusion, free-improv and instrumental hip-hop, all in the pursuit of rare rhythms and chilled melodies.
These are uncluttered, handcrafted retro grooves that wouldn’t be all that left out on a Butcher Brown record, often recalling early ’70s Herbie and Miles. At the same time, Dan Kurfirst offers so much delicious complexity embedded in his beats mated to unfussy, ethereal riffs from Alexis Marcelo’s electric piano.
Roshni Samlal’s tabla provides the only percussion support to Kurfirst’s drums but is a crucial component to the overall vibe, lending that world flavor and counter-rhythms that greatly informs this music but leaving plenty of clearance for the drums to shine.
A track from Arkinetics entitled “Not Yet” is featured in the video premiering above, and it encapsulates well the features of Kurfirst’s musical conception for this album. The thematic vamp is ushered in by Damon Banks’ bass guitar, as Marcelo lets his electric piano leave tonal color splotches and Carter’s role on the sax in the studio is ably filled for this live rendition by Daro Behroozi. At the center of all this is Kurfirst and Samlel, churning out that elusive but inviting pulse together, and Samlel’s tabla clinic is the peak of the whole performance.
Dan Kurfirst’s Arkinetics is now on sale. Get yourself a copy of it from Bandcamp.
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- Bryn Roberts, “Aloft” from ‘Aloft’ (2024): Video Premiere - September 20, 2024
