Album Notes

"...striking skills...[Newton] performs on a par with seminal players like Bill Frisell and Ben Monder."
ALL ABOUT JAZZ

"Newton’s your man whether you prefer your jazz-guitar virtuosi rough or smooth. The tunes range from funk to totally $%#&!'d-up (in the best sense)…
VILLAGE VOICE

"Improv-and prog-rock nuts no less than jazzbos should get a sharp shock of recognition from this quartet, a sort of Medeski, Martin and Mahavishnu thing that cuts loose from tight heads to travel the spaceways."
VILLAGE VOICE

"…a new angle on jazz-rock…intergalactic travels…irony and contrast aplenty… introspective quietude interspersed [with] explosive energy...Newton explores new sounds and textures."
ALL ABOUT JAZZ

"Could JNS be the first great jazz-fusion band of the 21st century? In a word, yeah. ... Free thinking and forward looking, JNS is guided by a passionate spirit of improvisation, which has informed the best instrumental music throughout history."
BUFFALO NEWS

"...an adventurous guitarist with chops to spare...Joel has produced a well executed collection of original music that falls onto a musical continuum begun 25 years ago while remaining completely contemporary and invigorating."
JAZZREVIEW.COM

Joel Newton (guitar), Ben Stivers (keyboards), Toshi Someya (bass), Eric Halvorson (drums)

This recording captures a sound cultivated by the four musicians over a three year period of frequent performing. It wasn't until the end of the four recording sessions that we realized we had an album in the making. We had been recording casually, largely to test out all the new studio equipment Eric had recently purchased. Out of this relaxed environment came documentation of a handful of songs (spanning 12 years of my writing career) and about 4 hours of open-ended improvisation. I tried to carve out of this a slice of the essence of this group: how we interpret songs, and how we interpret a blank slate. It's about freedom and motion and abandon and as many moods as possible (except boredom). I hope you enjoy it. -Joel