"Like Miles Davis, Clark Terry and Lester Bowie, Baikida
Carroll is a cutting edge St. Louis trumpet player. Carroll is a
brilliant, demanding and innovative composer and soloist, with
a big, commanding sound, tone and attack. Always in
demand, Carroll is revered by his peers and has my total
admiration and respect"
_ Quincy Troupe Author of Miles and Me, co-author of Miles:
The Autobiography (2002)
"Colorful, loose and imaginative are meek understatements
when describing the sumptuous music on Marionettes on a
High Wire."
-John Murph, Down Beat
"There's a beautiful kind of daring in the music -- a rough
tenderness in Carroll's trumpet tone, a palpable spiritual
commitment from all the players involved. Carroll and his
group unleash a highly adventurous sound...a freshness and
multi-dimensionality that is truly rare."
-David Adler, All Music Guide
"Baikida Carroll, whose balance of bravada and tenderness,
facility and understatement mark him as a player to be
reckoned with."
-Jon Pareles, The New York Times
"Baikida is a Bad Motha...! A true disciple of the maintenance
and extension of the trumpet tradition."
-Lester Bowie, Trumpeter
Jazz Journalists Association Top 10 of 2001
-Williard Jenkins (JJA)
"[Marionettes On a High Wire] Phenomenal in both conception
& execution...one of the trumpet's most brilliant improvising
players ... one of jazz's most rewarding composers ... leads a
superb quintet whose music is exciting, subtle, melodious &
adventurous."
-Lucky Oceans, "The Planet," Australian Broadcasting
Corporation
"Elegantly rendered shifts in meter and memorable melodies,
awash with blistering yet finely articulated soloing by the
leader...Carroll's latest release equates to one beautifully
fabricated production, that imparts a lasting impression. Now,
we can only hope that Baikida Carroll sustains fewer gaps
between recordings! Recommended!!"
-Glenn Astarita, All About Jazz
"I consider the opportunity to bear witness to the eloquent
beauty of Baikida's music a distinct honor. Baikida Carroll is
polarized; poised; at a matchless point between lyricism and
fire."
-Julius Hemphill, Composer/Musician
"Carroll is equally comfortable "inside" as "outside"...is no
stylistic chameleon, and always maintains a strong identity of
his own... Finely crafted and brimming over with verve and
unselfconscious originality, this new release is a delight from
start to finish, and a welcome spotlighting of a too-often
overlooked talent."
-Steve Holtje, CD Now
"Marionettes on a High Wire is in that rare class for me where
words like superb, and exquisite get used....tough, swinging,
angry, loving, thoughtful and expressive cutting-edge jazz.
Don't miss this one."
-SD Feeney, Face Magazine
"...superb new album ... Carroll sketches out beautifully lyric
themes with sensitive arrangements..."
-Peter Margasak, Jazz Times
[Marionettes on a High Wire] has the verve, the vision and the
vitality of the best of mid-sixties and contemporary jazz."
-Jules Epstein, Philadelphia Tribune
"Baikida Carroll can write any kind of music for the theatre, in
any genre, any style, any instrumentation and its power is
breath-taking. He is, very simply, the most inventive and
emotionally powerful composer for the stage I have ever
encountered".
- Emily Mann, writer and director McCarter Theatre, Artistic
Director
"Between Heaven and Earth: The sense of grace that comes
with real balance and a sense of direction are what undergird
this disc's authority and elevate its creative leaps."
-Larry Blumenfeld, Jazziz
"A multifaceted gem. Carroll plays the trumpet like no one I
know of. He's got chops to burn, which are fabulously on
display whenever he solos, but what really strikes me as
unique is his tone, which is dark and buttery-slippery, yet
somehow perfectly articulated. He gets more warmth from his
horn than any trumpeter I've ever heard, yet he's incredible
nimble and has perfect timing and pitch. This kind of modern
eclectic jazz--hip, worldly wise, yet with an underlying warmth
and accessibility--is what many artists strive for but few
achieve. In sum, this is one marvelous disc, certainly one of
the absolute best of 2001.
-Jon P. Dennis, Amazon.com
"'Simply breathtaking! A real trust in creative freedom is at the
core of Carroll's work..."
-Bret Premack -Global Music Network 2001
"...Remarkable often astonishing. His playing is full of poetry.
His tones are beautiful..."
-Jazz Hot Magazine, Paris, France
"Baikida is an exceptional musician and composer, we have
been friends for many moons...his music is always unique
and soulful."
-Oliver Lake, Musician/Composer
"A fine trumpeter"
-The Village Voice
"[Carroll's] probing trumpet, with a full, rounded attack and
soulful passion is at the core throughout. His lines have a
piercing precision, able to transform the singing melodies into
soaring abstractions while always retaining the harmonic
thread�'a personal approach to improvising that is rich with
an
understated, complex lyricism. Carroll's writing displays an
adventurous melodicism and edgy sense of timing that lets
the musicians stretch out with soaring freedom while still
maintaining a flowing pulse that swings like mad."
-Michael Rosenstein, Signal to Noise
Best New Jazz Releases
-Jez Nelson, BBC
2001 Critics' Best
-Hernani Faustino, JazzPortugal.net
"Baikida Carroll pulls the right strings. This 'freebop' session is
fresh sounding without being forced....Carroll's album
provides a valuable lesson to those who think that jazz's
future is in its past, be it neo-traditionalists or those reliving the
early 70's loft scene. The rich history of the music is to be
neither imitated nor ignored, but absorbed to help create a
personal statement. Carroll and his band mates walk the
tightrope between tradition and experimentation with perfect
balance."
-Dan Polletta, Public Arts Interactive
"Marionettes On A High Wire is a comprehensive, deeply
moving evocation of creative values. For all the bravura
complexity and calculated ambiguity of Carroll's lines, there's
a suede elegance to his tone."
-Chip Stern, Stereophile
"Baikida Carroll is not only a very fine musician; but a very
accomplished person in general."
-Muhal Richard Abrams, Composer/Musician
"If the neo-cons hadn't started to force it backwards 20 years
ago, this CD demonstrates where thoughtful mainstream jazz
was headed at that time, and what most contemporary
mainstream jazz should sound like right now."
-Ken Waxman, Jazz Weekly
"[Marionettes On A High Wire] Like a drive on a windy
mountain road, however, the new vistas peering out on each
turn are quite unexpected and beautiful. Take a spin for
yourself".
-Jack Skowron, Audiophile Voice [ full review ]
"[Marionettes On A High Wire] Quite the perfect release -
Omnitone once again delivers manna from the heavens."
-Downtown Music Gallery (NY)
"Baikida Carroll has been one of the more impressive
trumpeters in the new jazz for several years now... boast a
big sound and firm control in all registers."
-Robert Palmer, The New York Times
"Carroll is a superb trumpeter - avant-garde in the finest
sense; building upon a tradition... and extending it into new
territories."
-Thomas Albright, The San Francisco Chronicle
"I am deeply moved by his compositions... Carroll's work is
innovative, fresh and has a magic that takes the listener to
another realm of awareness. The lines and textures inspire
me to make dances."
-Dianne McIntyre, Choreographer
"Baikida Carroll is an artist...and one of the preeminent
trumpet players of his generation."
-Mikhail Horowitz, The Woodstock Times
"...It was a pleasure to listen to Baikida Carroll... with his fine,
fine sense of melody and his many talents as a composer...
intelligent compositional weave, and brilliant instrumentalist.
-Edward Sanders, The Woodstock Journal
"There is a freshness in the air when one hears Baikida
Carroll. A gifted writer."
-Dick Bogle, The Portland Scanner
"Leader and superb trumpeter ...Carroll with his lovely clear
tone, relaxed, multi- faceted lyricism and sudden high spears
of power... a much more satisfying soloist."
-The Morning Herald, Sydney Australia
"Baikida Carroll has long been a leading force in the shaping
of contemporary creative music. His influence will be strongly
felt as creative music moves into the next cycle."
-Anthony Braxton, Composer/Musician
"Carroll's fat tone and popping attack...suggest the formidable
Lee Morgan. When Baikida bears down on the microphone a
sec, the whole room can shake..."
-Kevin Whitehead, Schwann Inside Jazz & Classical
Recommended Jazz
-Chuck Obuchowski, New England Jazz Radio Cooperative
(WWUH-FM)
"He (Baikida) evokes every style of the horn's history and
elicits every conceivable, and some inconceivable sounds
from it. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't heard it myself."
-WXPN Radio, Philadelphia, PA
"...the balance of this special recording has the verve, the
vision and the vitality of the best of mid-sixties and
contemporary jazz.
-Jules Epstein, Jazzmatazz
"Excellent trumpet player!"
-Wynton Marsalis, Trumpeter
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