Reviews and Press Releases (scroll down for Articles and Interviews)

TOPICS IN AMERICAN HISTORY (2018/Blue Schist CD004)
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Featuring Jentsch Group No Net, Topics in American History is an hour-long chamber jazz work that abstracts Jentsch's impressions of various episodes in American history such as pre-Colombian North America, the Lincoln/Douglas Debates, and Manifest Destiny. 

Michel Gentile (fl, afl), Michael McGinnis (cl, bcl), Jason Rigby (sop, ten), David Smith (trp, flg), Brian Drye (trb), Jacob Sacks (pno), Chris Jentsch (gtr), Jim Whitney (bs), Eric Halvorson (per), JC Sanford (con).

"(Jentsch) writes lavish suites – which he then plays with remarkable terseness and attention to detail. His narratives are vivid and often very funny. His latest, Topics in American History, couldn’t be more relevant. "
NewYorkMusicDaily

“This is not a jazz guitar album; it’s an outstanding piece of jazz-classical fusion that achieves the elusive goal of offering the best of both worlds.”
- Rick’s Pick | New Releases for Libraries [scroll down]

PRESS RELEASE
JENTSCH LINER NOTES
PULL QUOTES

Selected reviews:
TheVinylAnachronist
The Aquarian - Rant ’n’ Roll
[scroll down]
StepTempest - Richard Kamins [scroll down]
JazzBluesNews - Simon Sargsyan [Topics... era interview -some  unusual questions]
Rick’s Pick - New Releases for Libraries [scroll down]
Dee Dee McNeil / MusicalMemoir’s Blog [scroll down]
ContemporaryFusionReviews
Ken Waxman - JazzWord
Neon Jazz | YouTube [Topics... era audio interview]
ArtMusicLounge - Lynn René Bayley
 New York Music Daily
 AllAboutJazz - Doug Collette [scroll down]
AllAboutJazz - Troy Dostert
FOREIGN PRESS
[with rough translations]
Tuesday Lunch With Abe [Topics... era live radio interview] NEW!

...more Topics... reviews HERE

Topics in American History by Christopher Jentsch and Jentsch Group No Net has been made possible with support from Chamber Music America's 2015 New Jazz Works Program funded through the generosity of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

FRACTURED POP  (2017 Fleur de Son FDSJ 58041)
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An epic CD/DVD package with a short live set video, alternate takes, slide show music vids, mash ups, a hi res FLAC version of the audio CD, and more, featuring Matt Renzi (tenor sax, clarinet, and alto flute), Jim Whitney (bass), and John Mettam (drums).

"(On Fractured Pop) Jentsch re-examines some of the same tunes that appeared on his large ensemble outings with a lean quartet... The title track, for instance, has a whole web of guitars, from acoustic strumming on the intro to clean electric lines played in unison with Renzi’s sax on the intricate head to Jentsch’s distortion-laced guitar solo. The moody and atmospheric ‘Radio Silence’ also makes use of crafty guitar overdubs throughout...‘Are You Bye?,’ Jentsch’s clever contrafact of ‘Bye Bye Blackbird,’ is underscored by Mettam’s supple brushwork and culminates in some fiery call-and-response between sax and guitar at the tag.... ‘Route 666,’ a hard-hitting groover with angular lines, is fueled by bassist Whitney and sparked by a twisted distorto solo from Jentsch.... Tenor sax and distorted guitar lines weave together near the end of ‘Meeting at Surratt’s’, building to an ecstatic crescendo.”
— Bill Milkowski (from the liner notes)

Editor's Choice - HighResAudio.com

FRACTURED POP PRESS RELEASE
JENTSCH LINER NOTES
BILL MILKOWSKI LINER NOTES

Sizable interview by Bill Milkowski
Performance review of the short live set on the DVD

Selected reviews:

Substantial interview at Guitar Club

CYCLES SUITE (2009/Fleur De Son FDSJ 57994)
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Commissioned by The New York State Council on the Arts and premiered in NYC at The Kitchen, composer/guitarist Chris Jentsch’s Cycles Suite featuring Mike Kaupa is a meditation on one’s own life cycle and the important connections with the cycles of others.

"The interesting thing is that he's using avant-garde techniques, but in a traditional framework…” 
Will Friedwald (New York Sun)

“In its scope and detail and eternally recurring inner logic, Cycles Suite may be the Finnegans Wake of big-band jazz. …a moving and elegiac journey through complex emotional terrain.” 
- Richard Gehr (from the liner notes)

PRESS RELEASE (PDF)
JENTSCH LINER NOTES
RICHARD GEHR LINER NOTES

WLIU In the Pocket feature interview on Cycles Suite

Selected reviews:

...more Cycles Suite reviews HERE

Cycles Suite was commissioned by the Individual Artists Program of the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, was made possible in part through the sponsorship of The Field, and was partially developed during a residency at the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming.

BROOKLYN SUITE (2007/Fleur De Son FDSJ 57987)
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Commissioned by American Composers Forum and premiered in NYC at Symphony Space, composer-guitarist Chris Jentsch’s Brooklyn Suite is a feature for his electric guitar sounds and textures that combine with the colors of the large ensemble to musically depict the composer’s life since he moved to Brooklyn in 1999.

PRESS RELEASE (PDF)
JENTSCH LINER NOTES
HOWARD MANDEL LINER NOTES

DOWNBEAT magazine review
Alex Henderson, All Music Guide (AMG)

Reviews at AllAboutJazz.com:

...more Brooklyn Suite reviews HERE

Brooklyn Suite was funded in part by the Composer Assistance Program of the American Music Center, and commissioned by the American Composers Forum with Funds provided by the Jerome Foundation.