Jessica Lurie Ensemble Shop Of Wild Dreams, Something Else Reviews, April 2009
“Jessica Lurie can be considered a multi-multi-musician: someone who can proficiently play a wide variety of instruments and a wide variety of musical styles. In Shop Of Wild Dreams … she throws in all these spicy ingredients into her gumbo, making it one hearty, tasty dish.
Lurie plays alto and tenor saxes, flute accordion, baritone ukulele and on some cuts, even sings. Supported by a band that included keyboards, guitar, acoustic bass, drums, percussion and a couple of less mainstream instruments like banjo and “tape recorder,” the music is often “jazz” for lack of a better description. Lurie liberally mixes in folk, rock, avant garde, Eastern European and New Orleans stylings. Somehow it makes for a coherent, compelling record, held together by an adventurous, carefree attitude that serves as the catalyst for music that’s loose but never pointless.
From the second-line folk beat of “I Don’t Care To I don’t Care” to the exotic klezmer shadings of “Grinch” to the banjo-powered whack jazz of “Pinjur,” Lurie puts her expansive range to good use. Never boring, always creative, Shop Of Wild Dreams is bound to become one of the most unique and stimulating recordings to come out of that delectable netherworld between jazz and non-jazz this year.”
All About Jazz NYC, September 2009
Jessica Lurie : Shop of Wild Dreams by Kurt Gottschalk
“… cinematic jazz and gypsy inflection… impressive… a seamless hour of listening”
View the article here: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=33838
CROSSOVER DREAMS: Adventurous musician Jessica Lurie gets vocal about her new recording
by Phil Freeman, JAZZIZ, June, 2009
“… her ideas loop around a subject, approaching it from several complementary angles in rapid succession … her melodies and saxophone solos unfurl in skirling arcs, wending within the ensemble sound rather than floating atop it, like a silk ribbon being pulled along the bed of a quickly moving stream. With a tone that resides somewhere between Norah Jones and Gillian Welch, Lurie’s vocal delivery is gentle, nearly diffident, but genuinely swings. The ensemble shifts among funk, jazz, folk and ethnic melodies reminiscent of klezmer-jazz and Balkan-jazz hybrids by artists like Steve Bernstein (and) the winding, angular grooves of Tim Berne.
Link to full version: http://runningthevoodoodown.blogspot.com/2009/06/this-quarter-in-jazziz-part-2.html
JESSICA LURIE — SHOP OF WILD DREAMS (ZIPA)
Chicago Jazz Magazine Review, by Paul Abella
” … As fascinating as her playing, writing, arranging and singing is, I’m just as blown away by her sidemen and how fantastic they sound in her group. Her bassist and drummer come from folk-punk Ani DiFranco’s band, and keyboardist Erik Deutsch had done time playing with guitarist Charlie Hunter. This is a band that came to play. … this is a disc that deserves to be listened to all the way through. Hearing them all in one shot uncovers an ebb and flow to this disc that is so much more than just some standard formulaic textbook placement of tunes, where the ballad is always slotted #3 on the disc and the longest tune is always at the end. Instead, this is a fantastic disc on its own terms. … There is so much to explore on Shop of Wild Dreams that it cannot possibly be taken in in its entirety on a first listen. This is a knockout disc from first cut to last cut. For those who are familiar with Zach Brock or Matt Ulery, The Jessica Lurie Ensemble is definitely a kindred spirit. Highly recommended. ”
Jessica Lurie Ensemble:Shop of Wild Dreams
February 18th, 2009 JamBand, Music, By: Dennis Cook
Full review: http://www.jambase.com/Articles/16725/Jessica-Lurie-Ensemble-Shop-of-Wild-Dreams
” Artists that offer one tremendous satisfaction and surprise throughout their career are rare. The temptation to embrace a profitable rut is strong, especially in these downturn days. So, with a quiet smile glued to my face, I can report Jessica Lurie is such a rarity, a composer and instrumentalist of gliding power and true invention. Case in point, Shop of Wild Dreams (released in January on Zipa!Music), which begins with the post-bop electricity of the early ’70s Atlantic Records jazz stable and then proceeds to morph through feeling soaked moods dappled with banjo, brass, gutsy singing, elemental soundscapes and emotionally potent observations.
… On Shop of Wild Dreams, Lurie and her collaborators exhibit a sophisticated, dare I say, mature approach that readily invites one in and then rewards them richly once they’re in the room. Terrific lyrics, full-bodied production (courtesy of Lurie & Sickafoose), tasty arrangements and bang-up performances throughout, there’s just so much to recommend this quietly turning jewel.”
August 2009 All About Jazz Italia Shop of Wild Dreams Review di Gigi Sabelli
Link: http://italia.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=4152
Shop of Wild Dreams Entrevistas by Sergio Piccirilli
Link: http://www.elintruso.com/article.php?id=1569
About rating: “Dame dos” (Give me two) = 9.5\10
Shop of Wild Dreams Review, April 2009, Fort Worth Weekly, by Ken Shimamoto
Link: http://www.fwweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=662:listen-up&catid=45:listen-up&Itemid=404
Pick of the Week, International Review of Music
Link: http://irom.wordpress.com/2009/03/22/picks-of-the-week-march-23-29/
The Short List: This Week’s Recommended Shows:
Jessica Lurie ~ Friday, March 13
Published on March 10, 2009 at 10:30pm
“Seattle-born Jessica Lurie has chosen to classify her music as experimental folk jazz. Listen to her self-released album, Shop of Wild Dreams, and you’ll find the combination of descriptors to be correct. Her music ranges from straightforward, melodic tunes like “Number Six” to more experimental stuff–an example of this is “The Usual Things,” in which odd guitar sounds provide a backdrop to Lurie’sfree improvisations, which proceed unexpectedly into more approachable pop territory as the song progresses.” ERNEST BARTELDES