Bright Dog Red

ON BAD MAGIC AND HEGEMONITIZED (sibling releases, 2024 Ropeadope)

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."

Read more

ON BAD MAGIC AND HEGEMONITIZED (sibling releases, 2024 Ropeadope)

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 (2022 Ropeadope)

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: "★★★★. 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."

Blue in Greek 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 (2021 Ropeadope)

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 (2020 Ropeadope)

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."

Dan Ouellette, Jazz and Beyond Intel, US: “Ups the ante of free music…bursting with improvisation that defies categorization.”

UK Vibe: "★★★★★. The music runs a joyous gamut now synonymous with the BDR brand."

ON HOW'S BY YOU? (2019 Ropeadope)

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.”

ON MEANS TO THE ENDS (2018 Ropeadope debut)

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.”

Show less