• Издание «Jazz Wise»

Duncan Heining 

 

Kruglov`s last album, "Russian Metaphor", also had the adjictives working overtime. It was bold, imaginative and yet simultaneosly rooted in several different jazz traditions."Karate" is less a great teap forward, more a whole new tradition absorbed and mastered. How to describe this music - jazz-rock, art-rock, prog-rock? Perhaps,but only if those genres could have burned as cosistantly bright as "Karate". Sooaar himself is a real find - a guitarist as capable of wit as aggression and yet with asn amazing, open-minded approach to rhythm. In terms of ambition, it is Kruglov`s two compositions, "The Battle" and "The Ascent", that stand out. These are episodic, obliquely structured pieces allowing considerable space for improvisation and drip with tension placing huge demandson a fine rhithm section. Sooaar, are more direct affairs - thundering and powerful. But it is perhaps the Russian children`s song, "May There Always Be Sunshine", that really surprises in this truly grown-up version. Kruglov is a remarkavle talent and Karate is for big kids everywhere.