Living in Sound: The Music of Charles Mingus, was a warmly incantatory concerto-like setting for clarinetist virtuoso Skoler and orchestra…

Harry Skoler, who put this joint together, plays clarinet and eases you into the Lester Young tune so sweetly that you wonder why the instrument isn’t more popular.

Such a treat to share with our listeners.

Everything sounds great, the music swings and the ensemble has real command of the charts, of shifting moods and especially fine modulations of dynamics.

It's a tremendous album, Harry! In the tradition of Jimmy Giuffre and just as great!

If this disc doesn't get a Grammy nomination, then I don't know who, and for what!

The album is powerful and I wouldn't be surprised if we see it among the Grammy nominees, or maybe it will bring the Golden Gramophone itself to its creators.

It's been a long time since I enjoyed a jazz clarinet player as much as here … Certainly news of this album has already flown the home coop among those of us keen to find meaningful jazz emerging out there like a speck on the horizon coming in from a road less travelled but finding itself slap bang in the middle of a somehow sought after destination against all odds. The word is out.

Skoler speaks confidently with a poignantly transparent and vibrant sound.

He plays with a muscular tone that gets to the heart of the piece … like Mingus, the album offers new discoveries with each listen.

…the richness of his tone, somewhere between romance and melancholia, draws you into the music.

… currently listening to the Track BLUE, MOSTLY… avantgarde at its best.

Harry Skoler is a clarinetist who employs this difficult instrument with a gentle and loving touch … Skoler's sound is elegantly supple …

I appreciate your gratitude, but you should thank yourself. Your fine work demands exposure, and it's my privilege to provide it.

This is such a lovely album. It's an honor to play it.

Red Brick Hill is a powerful story told with empathy and creativity by Skoler and the various musicians who assembled for this recording. Needless to say, it’s also powerful music! BOTTOM LINE: How does clarinetist Harry Skoler overcome a trauma he experienced as a youth? With heartfelt original music performed by a group of exceptional musicians who understand how best to tell Skoler’s story in a moving and heartfelt manner.  The music will move you as well.

Focusing on Skoler's radiant clarinet, all the arrangements … exalt the melodic charm of the themes, highlighting their restlessness with scores rich in internal contrasts and dissonances.

Harry Skoler plays with a melancholy but hopeful tone that adds a poignancy … His clarinet sound has a deep, rich quality…

Skoler’s warm and woody stick works wonders…

The arrangements make excellent use of instrumental color and put Mingus’ themes into the context of extended, complex harmonies…this is good music well played, it feels good as it goes down…Skoler’s own “Underdog”…convincing, with flashes of complex, unresolved emotions and ideas—Mingus.

…Skoler lays back, letting his clarinet seduce with purring trills that stretch the limits of human hearing.

At once innovative and accessible, Red Brick Hill is a personal statement with universal appeal.
Skoler's best release to date, it's a brilliant work from a consummate artist.

The clarinetist's original "Underdog" wraps things up with a free moving piece that leans into the duality of its inspiration, both turbulent and gentle at the same time.

The most important thing for jazz musicians is if they can be recognized after a few notes. Skoler is clearly recognizable!

Throughout this strikingly evocative project, the clarinet virtuoso — a Mingus obsessive since his teens — offers efflorescent improvisations through arrangements of nine Mingus compositions by Ambrose Akinmusire, Fabian Almazan and Darcy James Argue, with a to-die-for rhythm section of Kenny Barron, Christian McBride and Johnathan Blake, joined on various tracks by trumpet titan Nicholas Payton, vocalist Jazzmeia Horn and a string quartet.

Thank you for the great music!

This album is a thing of beauty and one can only thank Harry Skoler for digging Mingus enough to drop this.

Argue … takes “Duke Ellington’s Sound of Love” into interesting territory with an arrangement that straddles the lush and spare, one that Skoler navigates beautifully in his lead, with tones of respect for the composer Mingus most admired.

No need to be so humble, the album is freaking great.

Great release! Glad to share it with my listening audiences as we celebrate the Centennial.

If clarinet might seem like a questionable instrument to lead a Mingus tribute, Skoler casts aside any doubt in the opening moments of "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat."