“‘Quavers!’ [sic] starts on the wild side and stays there… Big Five Chord isn’t afraid to go for the throat if the music calls for it… This is high energy music, combining somewhat straight ahead foundations with a rock execution, and hopefully Lundbom will start getting more attention for his fresh perspective, both as a writer and player.”
Peekskill
Just announced, Big Five Chord and I will be playing the Peekskill Jazz & Blues Fest After–Party at the Birdsall House. Good times, see you there!
Grego Applegate Edwards, ‘Gapplegate Guitar and Bass Blog’ 06/23/11
“Ensemble music of a definite currency. Adventurous, a bit electric, loping, freestyling and rocking along with some very interesting lines and excellent solos from the principals… Lundbom has a definitely-subtly-quirky sense of what goes with what… What else? Well it’s engaging music. That should be enough to wet your whistle.”
Kyle O’Brien, ‘Jazz Society of Oregon’ June 2011
“These young musicians push their instruments and their music to the edge. ‘Quavers…’ aurally punches the listener from note one. …a blending of avant-garde, a la Dolphy and John Cage, plus ’70s and ’80s fusion. …All the musicians are bold, young and accomplished…the grooves, as on ‘Meat Without Feet,’ are infectious.”
Farmers Cabinet
Hey beer and/or jazz fans, Big Five Chord will be performing at the Farmers’ Cabinet in Philadelphia on Saturday, supported by a remarkable lineup of rare and/or special draft beers imported by B. United International. See you there!!!
Tim Niland, ‘Music and More’ 06/05/11
“A wide-open mindset and unique instrumentation of the band provides a lot of depth to the music. …Lundbom’s post-Sonny Sharrock guitar style and raunchy saxophone are welded to a killer backbeat, building music for the booty and the mind. Sort of like if Pharoah Sanders and Sonny Sharrock took a break from late 60’s spiritual free-jazz to cut a massive funk record. …A tremendously fun album to listen to, Lundbom continually challenge the listener and each other and succeed to builds a piece of pan-genre experimentalism that defies pigeon-holing.”
New Store
Jordan Richardson, ‘The Seattle PI’ and ‘BlogCritics.org’ 05/28/11
“A boundary-shattering shot of adrenaline that screws with your head and messes with your soul…[Big Five Chord] reconfigure what you think you know about jazz and dump the entrails overboard. …[Big Five Chord] is a maddening catharsis. It releases all of the pent-up ‘properness’ of the jazz scene, that bit of bullshit that sinks discussion of the art form to the very pretentious and the very boring, and resurrects the bones of truly free music to come up and play with the rest of us schlubs. …For those tired of the same old reliable jazz music, this here’s the cure.”
John Sharpe, ‘All About Jazz’ 05/26/11
“Jon Lundbom and Big Five Chord take a skewed look at jazz with rock sensibilities—or should that be the other way round? Lundbom can be hard to pin down… Big Five Chord pays heartfelt but ironic regard to tradition, albeit through the lens of the guitarist’s idiosyncratic compositions.”
Bruce Lee G, ‘Downtown Music Gallery Newsletter’ 04/29/11
“Mr. Lundbom loves to write these greasy, somewhat funky tunes for two sprawling saxes and great, grimy guitar licks dancing in the center. …Although Mr. Lundbom sounds like he does have some fine jazz chops, he would rather push things over the edge in exuberance verging on sloppiness. ‘Quavers!’ is more about having fun than showing off any sort of technical prowess. This includes some of sickest sax solos I’ve heard in recent memory.”