Widely regarded as one of today’s most original young composers, Steve Lehman’s critically acclaimed quintet, combines groove-oriented musical content with highly contrapuntal, asymmetrical, and non-repetitive structural devices. Lehman creates elaborate formal works that remain rooted in the physicality of live performance and the visceral nature of urban rhythm. Lehman’s playing combines highly advanced harmonic language, microtonal playing, extended techniques, all wrapped in a deeply rooted rhythmic sense.
“His music is almost always orderly – cool, well-constructed – and his quintet even sounds like one of the truly great Blue Note albums of the period to suggest Eric Dolphy’s Out to Lunch or Jackie McLean’s One Step Beyond. And they do more than sound that way: they actually interact inventively around complex composed material on the level of that generally lost music, like Bobby Hutcherson and Tony Williams, et al. While the pieces are relatively brief, they achieve satisfying density through extended use of contrapuntal improvising and continuous use of the horns to fulfill structural roles. Lehman’s own playing is particularly distinctive – a coiled intensity that can shift suddenly to multiphonics, negotiate a minefield of compositional signs, or maintain a continuous linear focus. This is required hearing."
-- Destination Out
"Lehman is already making massive strides towards establishing his own territory, if he hasn’t already done so."
-- All About Jazz New York