9 Horses

"Brent's music is just bursting with emotion and its immediacy is partly what makes it so attractive and inviting... Brent is not playing the mandolin, but rather music on what happens to be a mandolin. Caswell's violin (and Hardanger d'amore) breathes, speaks and sings, while every note from Conley (including his extremely accurate bowing) is alive... this highly emotive music touches and communicates the essence of what it means to be an alive, feeling human being. 9 Horses is a very special group from which there is no doubt more will be heard and Perfectest Herald is a very special creative work. The only way to fully understand its depth and complexity is to listen to it, and this reviewer feels very fortunate to have had that opportunity." -- Budd Kopman, All About Jazz

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"Brent's music is just bursting with emotion and its immediacy is partly what makes it so attractive and inviting... Brent is not playing the mandolin, but rather music on what happens to be a mandolin. Caswell's violin (and Hardanger d'amore) breathes, speaks and sings, while every note from Conley (including his extremely accurate bowing) is alive... this highly emotive music touches and communicates the essence of what it means to be an alive, feeling human being. 9 Horses is a very special group from which there is no doubt more will be heard and Perfectest Herald is a very special creative work. The only way to fully understand its depth and complexity is to listen to it, and this reviewer feels very fortunate to have had that opportunity." -- Budd Kopman, All About Jazz

"One of the truly exceptional musicians of his generation, Joe Brent recognizes no boundaries the mandolin cannot breach, and thus seems destined to forge a body of work future generations will have to reckon with." — David McGee

“There has probably never been a mandolin player with better technical skills, and he matches that with an enthusiasm for every imaginable role a mandoline can fulfill.” — Don von Schrilz

“9 Horses moves like a meticulously crafted Mahavishnu Orchestra, yet made for this century. …The group quickly pivots from one sonic realm to another, dancing between electric to chamber ideas with breeze and beauty.” –– WBGO

“Omegah makes a strong impression on first hearing, and even more so after the second and third times. It achieves a high level of musical craftsmanship and originality and that’s a rare quality.” –– The Ear

“A restless shapeshifting amalgam of jazz, rock, pop, improvisation, melody, and variegated acoustic and electronic textures… Only 9 Horses can make such a complex and experimental mix of timbres, colors, and themes sound so effortless and free.” –– Strings Magazine

“Omegah is a double-album affair, which seems fitting for a project whose canvases are so panoramic, and the expansion in the group's sound is rendered all the more dramatic when it's heard against the backdrop of the all-acoustic Perfectest Herald… The new release was six years in the making, and it shows in its ambitious scope. Acoustic, electric, and electronic textures merge organically in the eight compositions, with sensitivity to arrangement as key as the writing. Jazz is present in the spiritedness of the improvisations, but there's classical too and also elements of rock, prog, and electronica. Rather than get sidetracked by futile attempts at categorizing, one's best advised to go where the music leads and simply enjoy a seventy-seven-minute ride that's ever scenic and always stimulating.” –– Textura

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