Jazz Articles

Josh Irving Quartet: Outside to Play

by Franz A. Matzner
September 6, 2004

Stylistically amorphous, the Josh Irving Quartet's freshman effort, Outside to Play, suffers from an inability to establish a consistent voice, which ultimately distracts from the musicians' talents. Vacillating between bop, hard bop, and more contemporary directions, the four musicians clearly possess a comprehensive--albeit studied--background in jazz forms, and the group's original tunes reveal a promising talent for composition that is unfortunately too often overshadowed by relatively shapeless solos and a lack of overall cohesion. ...