ABOUT

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Bright Dog Red (BDR), the alt-jazz ensemble that consistently “defies easy categorization” (Downbeat), celebrates 10 years of existence with the release of Never Would We, October 17, 2025. The album marks the group’s tenth release since forming in 2015 and eighth since signing with Ropeadope in 2018.

Never Would We epitomizes BDR’s “all-encompassing approach to modern-day jazz” (Blue in Green Radio, UK). That approach has evolved over the course of a decade, but “remains committed to blending a potpourri of styles” with “gripping narratives of sociopolitical struggle” and “proudly unanchored improvisation” (Downbeat).

Bright Dog Red fuses jazz, “funk, rock and free improv with socio-politico-cultural poetry/rapping in an audacious manner” (Downbeat). The celebrated ensemble has been described as “part Ornette Coleman and Prime Time, part Lounge Lizards, part A Tribe Called Quest” (JazzTimes). Others have likened BDR’s sound to Jayne Cortez & The Firespitters, Bill Laswell’s Material, The Golden Palominos (Downbeat), “Mahavishnu Orchestra meets Digable Planets” (Paul Schulman), “Romantic Warrior era Return to Forever” (Rimas e Batidas), and “electronic Ahmad Jamal" (Don Lucoff).

Founded by Joe Pignato, BDR features an alternating roster of contributors. In addition to Pignato (drums, percussion, concepts), Never Would We features Tim Lefebvre (electric bass and synth bass), Tyreek Jackson (electric bass and guitar), Jerome Harris (electric bass and guitar), Cody Davies (sounds), Anthony Berman (acoustic and electric bass), Mike LaBombard (tenor saxophone, keyboard), Martín Loyato (trumpet and Flugelhorn), and the voices of three distinctive poets, BDR’s long-term vocalist, the published poet Matt Coonan, as well as American Book Award winner Randall Horton and interdisciplinary artist Christian Black, both of the acclaimed jazz poetry group Heroes Are Gang Leaders.