Album Notes

HRP’s repertoire is rooted in original material that draws from a diverse range of cultures and genres. Influenced by their experiences with great music and musicians from around the world, HRP brings an eclectic slant to its performances, with styles ranging from progressive jazz and contemporary classical to funk, Latin, Arabic and pop. Performances include high-energy bursts of virtuosity interspersed with contemplative, soul-searching forays into the strange new soundscapes that have emerged as their musical symbiosis has evolved. Whatever the result, HRP consistently dazzles audiences with the unexpected through scripted content and improvisation. The ensemble’s founders, Matt Herskowitz and David Rozenblatt, share a mutual passion for infectious groove. Their multiple collaborations with other musicians are fusing what were once disparate styles into a contiguous whole - where everything old becomes new again.

HRP has appeared at major music festivals and concert series in France, Germany, Canada and the United States. They have also been featured in performances and recordings with Absolute Ensemble, Paquito D'Rivera, Lew Soloff, Dave Taylor, Marcel Khalife, Dhafer Yousef and Daniel Schnyder, among others.

"Fasten your seat belts and check your minimum height requirement, because "Forget Me Not" by the Herskowitz Rozenblatt Project is about to take listeners on a frenzied roller coaster ride of idiomatic twists and turns that could leave even the most experienced jazz aficionados light-headed." - Whole Note Discoveries (thewholenote.com)

Montreal Gazette
"This recording, a stunning first by an ensemble of classically trained musicians - pianist Matt Herskowitz and drummer David Rozenblatt - has it all and then some. Forms usually associated with contemporary classical cohabit with the funky, bluesy, Latin and Brazilian. Wild improv contrasts with moments of silence in 12 pieces that range from the wildly dazzling opener - Concerto en Fou - to a tragically simple reading of Under Your White Starry Heaven by Abraham Brudno, a Holocaust survivor, with bassist Mat Fieldes. Trumpeter Lew Soloff brightly kicks off If I Were a Rich Man, from Fiddler on the Roof, leading into a Cuban montuno - a tribute to the harmony of disparate traditions in the hands of inspired master musicians."
5 stars out of 5.

The Montreal Mirror

NYC pianist Herskowitz (a Montreal fixture in recent years) and drummer Rozenblatt need not fret. This effort is anything but forgettable. The principles of jazz underlie explorations of neo-classical, world music and pop ideas, assembled and exploded in a sly, even playful manner (Terry Gilliam fans should note the two versions of Ary Barroso's "Brazil"). The dynamic, capricious "Concerto en Fou" and propulsive title track (featuring Rémy Sealey's tasteful scratching and a vocal line aped most capably by Lew Soloff's trumpet) start things with a bang, but even the most placid moments crackle with quiet energy.
8/10

La Presse, Montréal
"Montreal virtuoso

A Montrealer since 1999, Matt Herskowitz must henceforth be considered among the essentials of the Montreal music scene. On this island, very few pianists acheive the mastery of this graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and Juilliard: dexterity, speed, attack, percussive sense, range of styles, harmonic mastery and incontestable international calibre."
"Herskowitz forms a superb acoustic power trio with his colleague David Rozenblatt, an excellent drummer, and bassist Mat Fieldes, joined sporadically by trumpeter Lew Soloff and DJ Rémy Sealey."
31/2 stars out of 4