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The Critics Speak about Michael Bisio
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"Bisio's ability to project such a diverse array of timbre and technical skill mark him as one of the leading bassists of his time."
Steven Loewy, www.allmusic.com
"... I'd just like to take my hat off in front of the technical
capability and soulful equilibrium of a great bassist, Mike Bisio..."
Massimo Ricci,
www.touchingextremes.org
"...a poet of the contrabass."
Eduardo Chagas, tomajazz.com
"For years, free improvisers have explored the tactile aspect of performance, in which the nature of the encounter between the player and the instrument becomes the subject of the music itself. Bisio is one of the few musicians that has managed to meld this high-concept sense of physicality with the soulful charge of jazz. His fiddle-high, scraped overtones create a tangled choir that is impossible to resist; his expressiveness with the bow is unmatched. Having whirled the listener into a transportive state, he gently shows the way out..."
Paul DeBarros, Signal to Noise
"The only clear predecessor for his conception is
the brilliant and largely forgotten David Izenzon...who played in Ornette
Coleman's classic 1960's trio."
Stan Dick, Spectator (Raleigh)
"...a sprawling talent in the avant-jazz world."
Andrew Bartlett, Seattle Weekly
"... Bisio turns out to be something of a force of nature on the bass..." --Richard Cochrane, Musings
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Playing with Joe McPhee's Bluette at Guelph Festival 2001:
"The entire band was inspired and inspiring, and no one displayed this more than Bisio, whose extended solo on 'Shenandoah' was crafted through love, innovation, and phenomenal technique."
Frank Rubolino, Cadence
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About MBEK, a new album of duets with violinist Eyvind Kang:
"Both players put their respective instruments through a punishing series of paces and miraculously the level of musicianship never falters. Each piece is a harmonic feast that blends precisely into the next[...]Their work here deserves serious consideration as one of the top releases of 2000 thus far."
Derek Taylor, www.allaboutjazz.com
"Opening with a dramatically emotional (but not overripe) rendition of John Coltrane's "Seraphic Light," Kang harnesses some wild bowing to carry a gospel melody, while Bisio's darkly percussive lines not only recall Jimmy Garrison's work on the original, but even allude tangentially to Rashied Ali's battery of bells and cymbals."
Cecile Cloutier, City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul
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About Zebulon, the new album with Joe McPhee from CIMP:
"...this duo generate extraordinary dialogues...Wonderful stuff."
David Lewis, Coda
"Zebulon is a journey of great beauty...Bisio and McPhee are tremendously passionate
players, and this recording is devoted to expressing those passions...the extraordinary
range of sounds Bisio can produce from his bass makes for a remarkably varied set."
John Whitton, Earshot Jazz
"I could write another entire review about the ways Bisio and McPhee manifest their
collective sub-and-uberconscious connections, but really why waste your time reading?
Seek and listen, and listen again, and you will be rewarded." Bill Meyer, Signal to
Noise
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"Bisio is an adept performer at all levels, from his blistering solo barrages to his more intricate larger ensemble work."
Encyclopedia of Northwest Music
"Bisio is stunning on bass, both sensual and scratchy."
Steven A Loewy, All Music Guide to Jazz
"...and the extraordinary range of sounds Bisio can produce from his bass,
makes for a remarkably varied set..."
John Whitton, Earshot Jazz
"His playing appears to be produced by sorcery."
Frank Rubolino, Cadence
"Bisio's big sound (imagine a fearsome meta-bassist syhthesizing Oscar Pettiford, Charlie Haden, and Peter Kowald and you're on the right track) is the perfect foundation for Kang to build his elaborate constructions on."
Dan Warburton, Paris Transatlantic: global coverage of avant-garde music and art
"Michael Bisio's wailing arco bass was reminiscent of David Izenzon with Ornette Coleman."
Art Lange, Music Works
"Fine and varied modern jazz...cleanly executed, intelligently structured, well focused."
Kevin Whitehead, Cadence
"I was unprepared for the power and beauty of this disc [Ours]...Without a shadow of a doubt, one of my picks of the year."
Alan Bargebuhr, Cadence
"Plucking, sawing, stroking, cajoling, and especially listening, Bisio displayed a mind-blowing technical vocabulary through his complex, yet riveting, contributions...GO SEE HIM. GO HEAR HIM."
Jeff Perlstein, The Stranger (Seattle, WA)
"The upright bass seemed like rubber in Bisio's hands with supple, detailed solos full of expression."
Roger Levesque, Edmonton Journal
"Bisio is definitely someone to watch."
Norman Proviser, Jazziz
"..a sprawling talent in the avant-garde jazz world."
Andrew Bartlett, Seattle Weekly
"The freshest thing to come out of Seattle in years."
The Rocket, Seattle
"Poignant and original music...that speaks
directly from the heart."
Earshot Jazz, Seattle
"A gorgeous, sizzling jazz record in the soulful, free-ensemble style of Charles Mingus."
Paul de Barros, Seattle Times
"A finely wrought inside/outside effort from a Seattle bassist and his
exceptional quartet."
Lee Jeske, Cashbox
"Bisio's atmospheric, slow sawing is sublime..."
Jon Morgan, Cadence
"When the loosely allied progressive jazz community in the Northwest
needs a bass player with boundless imagination and the virtuosity to
transport it, Bisio is at the top of the list."
Dan DePrez, Willamette Week
"... the pair's original ideas for the classics are exemplary
[Finger Wigglers]."
Aaron Cohen, Down Beat
"Bisio bows like a mad painter..."
Sam Prestianni, Jazziz
"... but McPhee and Bisio turn out a free sound that is utterly
exhilarating, charged with musical joy. After hearing McPhee and Bisio, every other musician sounds stiff and scared. This is what freedom sounds like."
Mark Fefer, Seattle Weekly
"He carries with him the virtuosity to facilitate techniques
reflective of improvisational and traditional forms at the speed of
stream-of-consciousness..."
Dean Roberts, Opprobrium
"... the colors of Bisio's bass-particularly his swarming arco attack
- and McPhee's wide-toned but concentrated tenor find consonance
hidden in the cracks of the overtones."
Joseph Murphy, 5/4 Magazine
