PRESS
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ON BAD MAGIC AND HEGEMONITIZED (sibling releases)
Downbeat Magazine:
"The Albany-based band defies easy categorization by fusing funk, rock and free improv with socio-politico-cultural poetry/rapping in an audacious manner that is certainly au courant, but also has a precursor in the ’80s group Jayne Cortez & The Firespitters....The group’s avant-funk edge also brings to mind other ’80s bands like Defunkt, The Contortions, Bill Laswell’s Material and the original Golden Palominos....Meanwhile, BDR’s facile, politically charged rapping recalls the ’80s Brooklyn-based, Afrocentric hip-hop group X Clan. Edgy….hard-edged free improvising…Poised to take it to new heights."
Glide Magazine:
"A singular inclusive mix of many forms....Their spontaneity leaves an overriding spirit of elation...the ensemble is at its improvisational best."
Blue in Green Radio:
"An electronica-meets-psychedelia soundscape...inspired levels of imagination."
Nu Jazz Sounds:
"The way that music should be made."
ON UNDER THE PORCH
JazzTimes:
"Bright Dog Red, the Albany-based avant-everything octet piloted by drummer extraordinaire Joe Pignato, has mastered the art of the groove. The rhythmic wizardry BDR effortlessly cranks out is the foundation of its raucous, all-embracing attack, and Under the Porch, a 12-song, electronics- and effects-laced workout, takes that attack to a new level, thanks in part to the group’s newest member: Tim Lefebvre of David Bowie’s Blackstar band fame and formerly of Tedeschi Trucks Band, who joins Tyreek Jackson and Anthony Berman in a troika of rock-solid bassists. The heavy-hitting BDR once again proves impossible to pin down: They can potentially appeal to jam-band, funk, rock, or hip-hop devotees ready to raise the roof….Few free-improv groups can lock in so deeply while being completely off the cuff."
Downbeat:
"★★★★. BEST ALBUMS OF 2022. Bright Dog Red remains committed to blending a potpourri of styles, while presenting a sonic personality and conceptual direction that’s focused in sound and narrative intent…alternates between intricate instrumental tracks bursting with tonal effects, and tracks propelled by gripping narratives of sociopolitical struggle.”
Bandcamp:
“Loose, limber, funky jams—with heavy roots in jazz—populate the latest from this celebrated NY group.”
Glide Magazine:
"Genre-agnostic, uncategorizable, and intensely thrilling."
Courtney Pine Global Podcast, UK:
"Free-form jazz, rock, funk, hip-hop all thrown in the pot for this 'part Ornette Coleman/Lounge Lizards/A Tribe Called Quest' sound-fest!"
Blue in Green Podcast, UK:
"Renowned as an improvising collective from New York, Bright Dog Red's new album, 'Under the Porch', continues to present the band's unique vision for an all-encompassing approach to modern-day jazz celebrating inspirations from hip-hop, electronica and spiritual jazz. Thanks to their long-running association with one of the leading labels for contemporary and forward-thinking jazz music, Ropeadope Records, Bright Dog Red continue to deliver music that both challenges and inspires and 'Under the Porch' marks an exciting inclusion within the band's ever-expanding catalogue."
ON IN VIVO
JazzTimes:
“Best kept secret in the avant-jazz underground…BDR has turned up nothing but aces over a rollicking three-album stretch on the Ropeadope label, sublimely marrying jazz with hip-hop, funk, and electronic music…part 1980s-era Ornette Coleman and Prime Time, part Lounge Lizards, part A Tribe Called Quest….The consummate genre-juggling party band.”
Downbeat:
"★★★ ½. Proudly unanchored improvisation....an unedited stream of musical consciousness...burns with bop swing. The melodic cogency, rhythmic clarity and sonic ingenuity in these ad hoc live improvisations astounds.”
Glide Magazine:
“BDR melds the influences of free-form jazz, funk, rock, and hip-hop into their signature sound. Much is made about improvisation or playing in the moment. While some bands pay casual reference to those phrases, as if to think it will improve their credibility, Bright Dog Red (BDR) makes it their mantra. They are the epitome of in-the-moment playing."
Nu Jazz Sounds, UK:
"Amongst the most exciting and creative jazz musicians out there today.”
Blue in Green Podcast, UK:
"A fantastic live set...genuinely thrilling."
Best of Jazz:
"Improvised music captured live...experimental jazz mixed with hip-hop, electronica, and a touch of krautrock: a refreshing discovery."
ON SOMETHIN' COMES ALONG
Nippertown:
"Best of 2020. How can you NOT love a group that can pair sharp, funny, intelligent lyrics with a borderline-chaotic mix of jazz, rock and hip-hop unmatched by anyone in the game? Bright Dog Red is not a gimmick; it is a force to be reckoned with, and may the reckoning come soon for all of us!"
Albany Times Union:
"Jazz outfit riding creativity high."
SF Gate:
"The most dynamic incarnation of Bright Dog Red yet." -SF Gate, US
Glide Magazine:
"Exciting, mesmerizing...hard-edged free jazz stylings."
Dan Ouellette, Jazz and Beyond Intel, US:
“Ups the ante of free music…bursting with improvisation that defies categorization.”
One Man's Jazz Canada:
"Successfully combines freer improvisation with contemporary street culture."
Nu Jazz Sounds, UK:
"They are the best at what they do."
Marlbank, UK:
"Spirited, a full throttle go-for-it charge for the line affair."
UK Vibe:
"★★★★★. The music runs a joyous gamut now synonymous with the BDR brand."
A Closer Listen, UK:
"Folds in a generous amount of hip-hop, funk, poetry and freestyling. The fact that the band has opened for Parliament Funkadelic says all we need to know."
Notas Azuis, Portugal:
“It is invention that drives Bright Dog Red, spontaneous and unrepeatable invention...there is always something that appears, that takes us to some other place.”
ON HOW'S BY YOU?
Modern Drummer:
“A seamless blend of seemingly disparate influences, creating a post-modern mélange that ranges from the familiar to the surprising…thought-provoking, toe-tapping, boundary-defying...inspired music.”
Blue in Green Radio, UK:
“Best of 2019. Experimental and diverse…you ultimately stop trying to comprehend this unravelling psychedelic experience and just learn to accept its mesmerizing nature.”
Nippertown:
“Best of 2019. Boundary-breaking alt-jazz improv.”
Glide Magazine:
“Fiery…free-flowing and immersive. Rhyming, noise and electronics weave in and out.”
Radio Le Grigri, France:
“Un chien nourri au hip-hop, à l’electro, au jazz et qui rappe ; assurément un chien d’avant-garde A dope album!” [“A dog fed hip-hop, electro, jazz and rapping; certainly an avant-garde dog. A dope album!”]
The Bolg:
“A stellar beatnik odyssey, filled with risks, that grows and unfurls more and more after each spin…a big musical Ouija board.”
Start-FM 94.2, Vilnius, Lithuania:
“What happens when you mix spontaneous jazz, hip-hop, poetry, psychedelics and noise? Bright Dog Red. Never stops evolving – just like we all should.”
ON MEANS TO THE ENDS
Nippertown:
“Divine madness…a brilliant package of vibrant, intricate, surprising pieces.”
Jazz Journal, UK:
“An enjoyable jazz and ‘hip-pop’ hybrid…a seamless and well-crafted product.”
Blue in Green Radio, UK:
“Spirited and inspired jazz that skillfully weaves in additional elements of electronica and hip-hop.”
DJ Nick, UK:
“Wild, refreshing, creative music. A sense of mystery because you don’t know where it’s going, where it’s going to end up, but it takes you on a journey. Cracking good music.”
Green Arrow Radio:
“Doesn’t fit into anything, and that’s just fine! So much going on…takes many, many listens before you feel like you’re not getting that one off, ‘this is mine,’ experience… an incredible capture.”
ON BRIGHT DOG RED
Blue in Green Radio, UK:
"Theirs is an unrivalled approach to contemporary jazz.”
Modern Drummer:
"Jazz that draws on psychedelic, electronic soundscapes, improvised hip-hop, funk, and more."
Jazzwise, UK:
"Mash-up of Maceo-style funk, old-school rap and jazz-rock riffage."
Jazz Journal, UK:
“Starting as a jazz-meets-hip-hop jam band with a loosely-defined membership, Bright Dog Red has become a fixture on the NYC jazz and improvisation scene.”
UK Vibe:
“Inventive and Bold.”
The Alt Weekly:
“An innovative and psychedelic mesh of jazz, hip-hop and electronica.”
The Bolg:
“Put Albany’s Bright Dog Red on your radar as this jazzy psychedelic hip hop posse has potential for some progressive golden era goodness.”
Louis Marks, CEO Ropeadope Records:
“Bright Dog Red is perhaps the most unique band to grace the halls of Ropeadope, and that’s quite an accomplishment. Bright Dog Red hits the stage without charts or set list – they simply start playing and improvise, taking cues from each other and from the audience and room. It’s adventurous, and due to the skill and rapport of the players, surprisingly cohesive.”