Press

"ACE OCTET in a LATIN GROOVE"

by Don Heckman
LA Times, April 22, 2004

"Pianist Bill Cunliffe brings his powerful "big band" to the Vic in Santa Monica.... Cunliffe added another brightly colored entry to (his) resume via his Latin Jazz Big Band. Calling an 8 piece ensemble a "big band" was a stretch in nomenclature, yet the title was fully applicable in terms of the group's power and vitality. In a pair of numbers, "Heat Wave" and "Pure Imagination" the horns were orchestrated in close, tightly moving harmony, the sumptuousness recalling textures associated with Gil Evans. Cunliffe's "Bone Crusher" opened up plenty of space for the ensemble's fine soloists with (trumpeter Kye) Palmer making most of the opportunity. If there was anything missing from an otherwise scintillating evening, it was more of Cunliffe's piano work... the music would have benefited from a larger does of his far-ranging improvisational imagination."

"Spotlight"

by Ernie Rideout
Keyboard Magazine, January 2004

"Hearing Bill Cunliffe on CD is always a major treat... for in addition to his superb piano playing you usually get his exrtemely clever arrangements, tailor-made for a hand-picked group of first-rate players... What takes this CD from great to sublime is the... compositions of Earl Zindars.... With a nod to Art Farmer's Jazztet, Cunliffe sets Zindars' tunes with an expert ear for the power and beauty of a world-class three-horn lineup. And throughout, his playing is inventive, melodic, and soulful."