Name: Jure Pukl
Occupation: Saxophonist, composer, improviser
Nationality: Slovenian
Current release: Jure Pukl's new album Analog AI is out via unit. Aside from Jure Pukl, it also features John Escreet (piano/keys), Joe Sanders (double bass) and Christian Lillinger (drums).
Hometown Recommendation: If you come to my home town Velenje in Slovenia I recommend you to come in February. There is nothing to do but in last week we have jazz workshop and festival called Creative Jazz Clinic Velenje :)
Topic I am passionate about but rarely get to talk about: I love to snorkel and catch fish, drive the boat at sea. I like to hang with my girlfriend and our dog. We spend much time together walking, playing …

If you enjoyed this Jure Pukl interview and would like to know more about his music and current tour dates, visit his official website. He is also on Instagram, and Facebook.



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

My inspiration is life and everything happening in my life. I also follow political-social events in the world and they influence me.

Also other music and arts in general.  

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

I have a basic idea what I want to do but it is not finished, done or anything like that.

I leave the rest to the universe, development and process. Serendipity!

Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

I think my whole life is a work in progress. For me there is no end-goal, it’s just about wanting to keep creating.

Once I am done with certain work I move on pretty fast. I don’t like to look back too much.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

Hm, I don’t think that these things really affect me.

Or maybe they do but I’m not aware of it.

For your latest release, what did you start with? If there were conceptual considerations, what were they?

I was observing the world accepting AI, how it affects us and what could it bring in the future. I started with these thoughts.

Then I started to think how would an acoustic jazz quartet sound as AI but still remain acoustic, analog ...

Tell me a bit about the way the new material developed and gradually took its final form, please.

I wrote sketches, short ideas that I gave to my bassist Joe Sanders to go over. Then I had a lot of other work (a workshop and festival I’m art director for) and I forgot about the music.

I asked Joe before we went on tour: Do I have the music? He laugh and said; you do, you do have the music. Everything else was developed on the road, playing concerts.

After that, we went to studio and just played. No thinking, no control, just playing. And it felt natural.

Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

As I mentioned above I let things go and try to follow my instinct. So yes, I follow where things go.

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

There is spirituality (in different forms) all over my work, life and thinking.

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece? What does this process look like in practise?

Yes I do work on something and then distance myself, forget about it etc. And then I come back to it and see it maybe from another perspective.

In practice - I am writing music, then I leave it for months and then come back again.

How do you think the meaning, or effect of an individual piece is enhanced, clarified or possibly contrasted by the EPs, or albums it is part of? Does each piece, for example, need to be consistent with the larger whole?

Hm, I don’t think so.

What's your take on the role and importance of production, including mixing and mastering for you personally? In terms of what they contribute to a song, what is the balance between the composition and the arrangement (performance)?

It’s important to be happy with recorded sound quality, mixing, mastering … But for me the actual playing is more important, the moment in which we recorded the material. I can accept a compromise if the sound is not great but the playing is.

The composition and performance can be very different as we improvise a lot. So the arrangement can change every night if we play more nights in a row.

Music and the accompanying artwork are often closely related. Can you talk about this a little bit for your current project and the relationship that images and sounds have for you in general?

I like it to be connected in some form. But I don’t push things or demand it be a certain way. I leave that part to the label, cover designers and other people involved.

At the end I of course have to give green light.

After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

I don’t feel that emptiness really, I feel like a certain period is done and can’t wait to start a new one or just rest, contemplate.

I would love to know a little about the feedback you've received from listeners or critics about what they thought some of your songs are about or the impact it had on them – have there been “misunderstandings” or did you perhaps even gain new “insights?”

People so far just told me they really like the music, that it is exciting and fresh. We didn’t go much into title details and what they really represent, I think listeners will create their own interpretation of the titles, music, letting imagination lead them.

I like that because we all hear or see things differently. Especially in this music, this is even more important.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?  

I don’t think music or arts or creativity is any different than daily life, sports, making coffee or cooking good food. I think they are all connected and at the end it comes down to the love and drive for what you do.

I think with music I can touch people more easily as I would with something else. They are exposed to listening, watching and following what we do on stage as they came to hear us. I also think that I make their lives a little better, if only for those 2-3 hours a night.