Hollenbeck, John - The Claudia Quintet
SKU
BLUESHIFT 2004
Hard to get and back in stock! This is where is all began!
The following was obviously written before Cuneiform starting releasing Claudia's CDs, but my enthusiasm was genuine, and while I do think that their two Cuneiform releases are stronger than this first effort, this is still a very nice album and should be heard by all of their fans. The only thing I left out below was that at the concert in March, 2002, where I bought the intial supply of copies was also the show where I practically signed the band before John was able to get off of his drum stool...
I was very very lucky and privileged to see this NYC quintet in 1999 or 2000. No one knew who they were, but everyone who saw them were utterly blown away. Led by drummer/composer John Hollenbeck, The Claudia Quintet is an amazing chamber/jazz/progressive group of some of the rising stars of the NYC scene: Drew Gress-acoustic bass, Matt Moran-vibes, percussion, Ted Reichman-accordion & Chris Speed-clarinet, tenor sax. While these guys are probably best known for avant and free jazz stuff, Claudia's music is highly composed and generally on the 'soft', rather than the 'hard' side of things, with areas for soloing. Maybe comparable to Julverne or ZNR if they were more up-tempo and with a fleet rhythm section. This record came out fairly recently and the label almost immediately went bust! Then, I got to see them again in March, 2002, and they were even better then they were the 1st time, and John still had copies, so we bought some from him and here they are! They are a great band with huge promise and they really shine live; go see them if they play in your town. Highly recommended.