Press Quotes
article by Scott Burton for RVA Jazz
INTERVIEW FOR LOUISVILLE WEEKLY
LEO: How many groups do you work with? Do you lose track of who’s doing what and when?
JA: I work with the entire population of the world on one level or the other. But with players, I don’t have to keep track — it’s a matter of trust. It’s why I choose to work with professionals. It’s symbiotic.
"The diagrams, with individual songs contained in sharp-cornered, kite-shaped rooms, should probably never be translated to actual buildings, but in practice, their sounds are perfect shelters from convention."
Peter Marcia, Fader 70
Hush Arbors / JA: 2 of us riding nowhere preview
"Champagne for real friends, real pain for sham friends — in the end, it behooves us to know the difference. And for these two musicians at least, that distinction probably couldn’t be any more defined."
Free Times, Columbia S.C. feature: Logan K. Young
SILBER RECORD: QRD:: Interview with 40 Bassist
QRD – Do you see your bass as your ally or adversary in making music?
Jason – I don’t mean to get Jarreau on you, but “We’re in this love together."
QRD – What do you do to practice other than simply playing?
Jason – Getting down with the bonus, stretching, mind power, avoiding nerds.
RVA Jazz News: Ten Questions with Jason Ajemian
"I saw an interview with Thomas Kincade that made me want to put an M-80 in the urinal at TGI Fridays but I opted to bust a move on the waitress. Love is the answer."
HiLife:
Jason Ajemian and The Highlife have managed to take traditional jazz instruments out of context to produce something fascinating and truly original on Let Me Get That Digital. They have an acute knowledge of not only when to hold back the fireworks, but also when to launch them, and they will be consistently thrilling because of this.
—Gordon Bruce, Tiny Mix Tapes
From Beyond:
The preview of the Moderna Museet’s exhibition “Eclipse: Art in a Dark Age”
Who Cares How Long You Sink:
Best local albums of 2007
Matthew Lurie - Time Out Chicago
Who Cares How Long You Sink:
"Folk Forms Evaporate Big Sky is what music is for, to define, undefine and redefine, to forget and remember, to struggle and release?and most importantly, to be inventively and innovatively musical."
Foxy Digitalis: review
Who Cares How Long You Sink: Self Titled
"Music has an awesome power that even in its laziness and tranquility; it exudes this awesome, life-affirming power. Stop me now, if I'm starting to sound like one of those TV spinsters, but it's the truth. Having heard a piece of music that is breathtaking, I immediately stop whatever it is that I'm doing and take note. I'm all ears. It's just me and the sounds coming out of those speakers. Jason Ajemian's new record is one such release. Compositions he pens are works of real beauty."
- Tom Sekowski, Gaz-Eta
Who Cares How Long You Sink:
"While Folk Forms Evaporate Big Sky contains a mere five songs, each one inherits enough depth and intuitiveness to express more ideas than most contemporary bands have expressed in their entire careers."
Obscure Sound Feature by Mike Mineo
The parts are (almost all) related to one another without interruption,
so that even the short fragments are dissolved in being part of a single
scintillating suite that we can define 'cosmic jazzfunk' but only for
lack of more suitable terms. (7 / 8)
Stephen I. Bianchi, Blow Up Magazine
LayAllOverIt:
"both cuts are performed well and done so in an entertaining way, which is not surprising considering the source. Ajemian and crew remain one of my favorites to be watched"
Foxy Digitalis: review
LayAllOverIt:
"Bassist Jason Ajemian and drummer Nori Tanaka have been regular thursday-night fixtures at Rodan, sometimes in a trio with guitarist Jeff Parker but just as often in an idiosyncratic improv duo. Starting with precomposed melodic fragments, the music moves organically from Tanaka's fierce swirling grooves to Ajemian's meditative, standalone arco passages. Ajemian adds spontaneous vocals that range from howled chants to original poems sung as the kind of raw, plaintive folk music that the native of Virginia's mountain country seems to have in his blood."
Peter Margasak - Critics Choice, Chicago Reader.
**********
*************
"Ajemian has offered a different view while also producing a quite viable musical concept,and an excellent listening experience for those of us fortunate to be alive"
Before the band took the stage, the show was opened by Jason Ajemian, one of Helado Negro's touring musicians. With only a double bass and no amplification to speak of, Jason coaxed the audience to the floor below the stage, politely asked for their attention, and then received it in full. While his request was polite, his music demanded it. For an instrument that is normally relegated to providing accompaniment for a melody, he made the beast sing, eliciting sounds far outside its usual range. The result was something between beat poetry and the Velvet Underground's 'The Black Angel's Death Song' had it been composed with bass instead of violin. In other words, intoxicating, impressive and innovative. The highlight for me was his cover of Lee Hazelwood's 'No Train to Stockholm,' a hauntingly beautiful rendition to be sure.
Jack Diablo - EU Jacksonville