A mysterious blend of jazz and chamber music brings together the visceral power of Charles Mingus and the sparse textures of Steve Reich through original compositions and improvised pieces - producing sounds that are intriguing, energetic, and positive.
Superb...suprisingly adventurous...transcending post-modern superficiality
--Signal to Noise
I've been blown away...This is not just another swell improv disc
--Downtown Music Gallery
Enjoyably innovative...bewildering exploration
--Minnesota Monthly
Fantastic Merlins make music imbued with one of jazz's greatest strengths: a complex but naturally woven and interdependent improvisational spirit.
--Reveille
The Fantastic Merlins make improvised music with the spirit that’s the impetus behind the best jazz.
--Pulse Magazine
It’s refreshing when a band like the Fantastic Merlins comes along...They are a band for bored ears.
--How Was the Show
On top of everything, the musicians look for a collective coherence rather than straining themselves to put their excellent technical value in front of the listener, which is a major plus...
--Touching Extremes
They’re working on the fertile turbulent boundaries of many musical categories, setting their classical training and adventurous spirits on jazz bedrock--definitely a way to get the Paul Seal of Approval
--Minnesota Public Radio
The Fantastic Merlins make music that's unpredictable and steeped in emotion. Alternately upbeat and meditative...a sound that's part avant-garde jazz, part chamber music, part boundary-breaking sonic journey.
-- Mliwaukee Shepherd Express