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BLOGS |
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The Sweet
Sound
-- Story/Fan Review by Nelson Eubanks
Plunge:
Inverted Pyramid Entrepreneurship
-- Article by James Price
Mark McGrain
discusses the music of PLUNGE
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REVIEWS
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Cadence |
". . . great spirit and
adventuresome performances. Well worth checking out.
-Stuart Kremsky |
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DownBeat Magazine
April 2010 |
"It
takes a great deal of poise and confidence to make music
this deft and new. What a pleasure to have an
innovative album one also wants to rush out and play for
friends.” – Paul de Barros (4
stars) |
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DownBeat Magazine
"HOT BOX"
April 2010 |
“Texturally daring, rhythmically
dapper.” -- Jim Macnie (3 stars)
“Tenor and trombone create a
scrupulously pristine musical pastel, reminiscent of
Stan Getz and J.J. Johnson, perhaps, but with a far more
risky and adventurous agenda.” – John McDonough (3
stars). |
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MuzikReviews |
"With Wynton Marsalis
stumping the traditional New Orleans swing sound in a
manner that could be described as nearly monomaniacal,
it's good to hear some music coming out of the Big Easy
that is in touch with what's happening today . . . music
of the people, not dumbed down for the masses, but
spoken with street eloquence." --Tim
Madison (5 stars) |
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ArtsJournal
"Rifftides"
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"Plunge is among the best post-Katrina jazz developments
in New Orleans music . . . They generate moments
reminiscent of music as various as the Jimmy Giuffre
trio's folksiness, 1960s free experimentalism, and that
long march to the cemetery uptown or out by the lake."
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Doug Ramsey, Rifftides |
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AllMusic.com |
"There's a
spare yet rich sound from this trio, more mischievous
and daring -- The distinction of this progressive jazz
trio is in their ability to play together without any
grandstanding, as equals in a complete, whole
partnership. Yes, it's cliché to suggest you take the
plunge listening to this bold new music — but you
should." --Michael G. Nastos |
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The Louisiana
Weekly |
"Dancing on Thin Ice is brilliant in
its completeness." --Geraldine
Wyckoff
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IMPROVIJAZZATION Nation |
""Plunge"
has it's own unique sound that jazzers hungry for talent
will dig to the 'nth degree!" --Dick Metcalf |
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Where Y’at Magazine
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"a musical blend
of jazz mixed with a contemporary and euphoric sound.
Beautifully put together." --
Kimberly Tubré |
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All About Jazz |
"an
urban blockbuster of power. The music is painterly in an
abstract sort of way, wildly suggestive and always in
motion . . . the pulse of the street . . .
boasts a certain brazen attitude to the end. It's all the stronger
because Plunge is out to prove that the cradle of jazz civilization
is still swinging." --
Raul d'Gama Rose |
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Hartford Courant |
"For
those expecting typical New Orleans funky jazz, you'll
be surprised by the many and varied directions this
music goes in . . . this CD grows with each successive
listen and is worth your attention." --Richard Kamins |
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News
& Observer,
Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, NC |
"If the group could
march unimpeded by the limited mobility of the acoustic
bass, second-line revelers would surely follow." --Owen Cordle |
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Blobcritics.org |
"Plunge
is one of those trios operating with style and bravado
beyond all expectations . . . a wonderfully courageous
and risky jazz record. It is unsafe in the best of ways
and features a group in full command of their art" --Jordan
Richardson |
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Midwest Record |
"the
now sound of cool really doing it’s thing." --Chris Spector |
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Phontas Jazz & Tzaz |
"Ένα από τα πιο ωραία και ενδιαφέροντα τζαζ-
απροσάρμοστα CD, που ακούσαμε το τελευταίο
διάστημα . . .
" --Phontas
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OffBeat Magazine |
"exhilarating, post-bop fare suffuse with tight,
interlocking melodies and cool, nimble grooves." --Aaron Lafont |
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Reviews of Plunge's debut album
Falling with Grace
(now remastered at 24 bit.)
Buy the CD or Digital
Download |
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MuzikReviews |
"a
contemporary and untethered exploration of New Orleans
rhythm in an experimental jazz setting . . . enlivened
with shades of modern hip-hop and funk; and provides a
low end that will give your subwoofer a workout . . .
This music will get you tapping your toes and snapping
your fingers, all the while putting you on the ship to
Sun Ra's spaceways." --Tim
Madison (5 stars!) |
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NPR/PRI's Monitor Radio |
"the freshest album of it's
type this year . . . a song book light years beyond the
usual marches and dirges found in brass ensembles . . .
masters of versatility, shifting gears easily between
tonality and atonality, jazz and pop . . . this brassy
band keeps the Duke's [Ellington] faith swingingly alive."
--Norman Weinstein |
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DownBeat Magazine |
"a
remarkable debut . . .at once soulful and vivacious, a
refreshing plummet into the deep end of the tonal
spectrum.
Plunge delivers grooves as wide as a house, fat drones
that rumble window panes and pulsing bass beats that
simultaneously undergird tunes and drive them." --Dan
Ouellette (4 stars) |
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DownBeat
- BLINDFOLD TEST
with Howard Johnson
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"The
tuba player's groove was really something. Tuba
players today are learning that to play tuba bass they
don't have to sound like a string bass. This guy
definitely works the groove as a tuba thing." |
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| CMJ |
"Second-line polyphonics,
atmospheric dirges, go-for-the-gonads funk and a tinge
of mysticism fairly explode from the grooves.
Dynamic, ever-changing and richly resonant, Falling With
Grace is an apt title for this quartet recording
featuring four interdependent, indispensable musicians
playing live, loud, often fast and always together." --Gene Kalbacher
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| JAZZTIMES |
"bottom-heavy
but with plenty of open space." --
James Marcus
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| JAZZ NEWS |
"music
that crosses the spectrum of jazz history and flies on
to new territory . . . the musicianship in Plunge is top
of the line, and the compositions and arrangements are
kept interesting without becoming too abstract to be
listenable." --Marge Hofacre |
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| JAZZIZ |
"monster
rhythms via a behemoth configuration . . . Plunge dives
headlong into the rare groove vortex. Melodically
eloquent and evenly balanced, Plunge imbues fresh
dimensions into low-end articulation." --Sam Prestianni |
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| MODERN
DRUMMER |
"a
wild assortment of gutbucket street funk and atmospheric
slants . . . deeply absorbed influences from New
Orleans, Africa, the Caribbean, Birdland - even the
hip-hop nation." --Robin Tolleson |
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| WIRED |
"this
trombone- and tuba-driven avant-jazz quartet can wail.
From funk to New Orleans jazz to pensive ballads . . .
tracks so hot their grooves stick in your head hours
later." --Peter L. Herb |
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| PULSE |
"testimony to the virtues of
simplicity." --Martin Johnson |
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"an
ensemble
performance, not four soloists going at the music in the
same room. You can hear and feel the interaction of the
musicians as they work through the changes of each
chart, each player feeding on the work of the others."
--Chris Waage |
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| THE BOSTON
PHOENIX |
"a
gravity-defying bounciness, polyrhythmic and Third Worldish (and New Orleansish)
- a kind of exotica that sounds like a modern, hipper
version of Ultra Lounge . . . groove-ridden, upbeat, and
brimming with off-the-cuff virtuosity." --Richard C.
Walls |
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| ORLANDO
SENTINEL |
"McGrain's
12 compositions deftly incorporate elements of New
Orleans second-line jams, blues, funk, Caribbean and
African music, free jazz, jazz-rock and hip-hop. fans of MMW's brand of groove-oriented
but adventurous music are bound to dig this band as well." --Parry Gettelman |
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| OPTION |
"Finally,
a marching band you can sit down to! " --D.H. Krasnow |
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OMAHA
WORLD-HERALD |
"blends
jazz, funk, Caribbean and New Orleans gutbucket
elements" --Will Smith |
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SMUG
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"Warning:
there are no Led Zeppelin covers here. But
reinterpretation of another band's work can only take
you so far. Plunge is playing their own version of
heavy metal now, and it's a hoot." --Marni Davis |
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MAXIMUM
INK
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"funky
Dixieland struts to subtle introspections . . . a jazz
super-nova." --John Noyd |
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Dirty
Linen |
"an explosive quartet that's
a cross between a downsized New Orleans brass band and
an avant-garde jazz ensemble you'd find in Greenwich
Village. Catchy, hip-hop sounds wrapped in a deep,
heavy groove." --Dan Willging |
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BLUESWIRE |
"a carful listen reveals
their thirst for creativity is greater than anyone who
paraded on the [New Orleans Jazz Heritage Festival]
Fairgrounds this year." --Frank-John Hadley |
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RAPPORT |
"Rough,
pure, clean; these are all descriptions that come to
mind about the CD as a whole. Plunge has a garage
band edge to it; a kind of disciplined bebop, humorous,
chancy, yet all held together like super glue by the
steady, unrelenting rhythm section." --L.M. (4
stars) |
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Fan Review |
"MAN
O' MAN was the music GOOD!!! It made me tap the
gas and brake pedals. Romping! " --Donn
Schaefer |
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Billboard |
"notable
for its propulsive, progressive approach and relentless
rhythmic base." |
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| Record
Label Memo |
"Every once in awhile a record will lay quietly in the
shadows, building up momentum, preparing to pounce forward on an unsuspecting public. We've
got a humble little record in just that situation..." --Michael Dunford, Rounder Records Group |
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CMJ Chart |
#15
- 14 weeks in the Top 20 |
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