What the critics have said:
"Trenchant virtuosity with keen lyricism."--Raul da Gama, jazzdagama.com
"Soulful, vivacious. A daring trombonist."--DownBeat Magazine
"[one of] the most forward-leaning musicians in New Orleans."--Tom Jacobsen, NewOrleansNotes.com
"McGrain proves that jazz trombone, while still owing a debt to J.J. Johnson), has traveled far during the past 70 years."--Scott Yanow, JAZZIZ
"Inspired and illuminating" --Ron Hart, DownBeat (**** 4 stars)
http://www.downbeat.com/digitaledition/2018/DB1804/single_page_view/61.html
"The breadth and strength of utterance, the depth, power and unshowy brilliance of his trombone manner, the uncanny blend of rhetoric and intimacy, all combine to reveal a one-man symphonic, developmental drama of unassailable integrity . . . with spellbinding loveliness . . . to absolutely die for." --Raul da Gama
https://jazzdagama.com/music/mark-mcgrain-love-time-divination/
"Stunningly beautiful." --Steve Hochman
"Love, Time, and Divination proclaims the ability of the old and the new--classics and finely written originals--to share the stage of beauty" --Geraldine Wyckoff, OffBeat Magazine
http://www.offbeat.com/music/mark-mcgrain-love-time-divination-immersion-records/
"Swoop, Slide, Swing and Stride" by Debbie Burke, Jazz Author
https://debbieburkeauthor.com/2018/01/14/swoop-slide-swing-and-stride-with-mark-mcgrain/
"the freshest album of it's type this year . . . a song book light years beyond the usual marches and dirges found in brass ensembles . . . masters of versatility, shifting gears easily between tonality and atonality, jazz and pop . . . this brassy band keeps the Duke's [Ellington] faith swingingly alive." --Norman Weinstein, NPR/PRI's Monitor Radio
"a remarkable debut . . .at once soulful and vivacious, a refreshing plummet into the deep end of the tonal spectrum. Plunge delivers grooves as wide as a house, fat drones that rumble window panes and pulsing bass beats that simultaneously undergird tunes and drive them." --Dan Ouellette (4 stars), DownBeat Magazine
“Tenor and trombone create a scrupulously pristine musical pastel, reminiscent of Stan Getz and J.J. Johnson, perhaps, but with a far more risky and adventurous agenda.”
– John McDonough (3 stars), DownBeat Magazine
"music that crosses the spectrum of jazz history and flies on to new territory . . . the musicianship in Plunge is top of the line, and the compositions and arrangements are kept interesting without becoming too abstract to be listenable." --Marge Hofacre, JAZZ NEWS
"Plunge is among the best post-Katrina jazz developments in New Orleans music . . . They generate moments reminiscent of music as various as the Jimmy Giuffre trio's folksiness, 1960s free experimentalism, and that long march to the cemetery uptown or out by the lake." -- Doug Ramsey, ArtsJournal "Rifftides"
"powerful melodic lines . . . expansive collective improvisations . . . the kind of powerful hook that pops insistently into your head for weeks. Tin Fish Tango is a novel creation that manages to remain undeniably New Orleans." - Zachary Young, OffBeat Magazine
"Sort of chamber-music vibe, most notably on three tracks where the players collectively improvise. It's abstracted a bit from the dance floor, which is somewhat un-New Orleans, but it's also very New Orleans in its bones, in its genetic makeup and musicality."
-- Patrick Jarenwattananon, NPR - All Things Considered
"With Wynton Marsalis stumping the traditional New Orleans swing sound in a manner that could be described as nearly monomaniacal, it's good to hear some music coming out of the Big Easy that is in touch with what's happening today . . . music of the people, not dumbed down for the masses, but spoken with street eloquence."
--Tim Madison (5 stars), MuzikReviews
