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"Deliciously funky"

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"Guitars on Life enters the annals of acoustic jazz guitar with a brave, new chapter of bracingly creative compositions."

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"A real find!"​

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“A modern acoustic guitar virtuoso, Jack West is regarded for his rhythmic style, adept at simultaneously playing percussion-based lines, slide, and bass."

- Audiophile Audition

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​"Two exceedingly talented and experienced players.  They both sound tremendous! The interplay between the guitars [on Guitars on Life] is truly beautiful, and the  sounds and rhythms they're both able to extract from their instruments is extraordinary.”    

- Theater & Hi Fidelity

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“4.5 Stars - Highly recommended! Guitars on Life is an exuberant collection of acoustic guitar jazz."

- Audiophile Audition

 

"Subtle, sensuous, accomplished, and mature. West wants and gets a group sound/identity. The music is well-contructed and smartly played. If you like percussive music that does not skimp on melody, check out Jack West & Curvature."

- Cadence Magazine

 

"That deceptively simple phrase 'progressive acoustic jazz' belies the rich complexity of composition, technique and improvisation that West and his cohorts in Curvature bring to the stage. West brings together elements of folk, blues and jazz with a heavy emphasis on melody and percussive guitar technique. The result is vibrant, organic sounding jazz that...

sounds like something never heard before...nothing short of astounding."

- Oakland Tribune

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"Jack West is not only a fine musician, but he has an original approach and sounds like no one else. To my mind, that is one of the most important qualities that a musician can possess."

- Lee Townsend

 

"Exploring uncharted territory...uncannily familiar and yet completely fresh."

- Andrew Gilbert, Jazz Critic

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"[Big Ideas is] a remarkable outing of cool curves, gently sloping musical parabolas, and wondorous bends in compositional structure. With rhythm at the fore West offers unusual sound colors, fluid slide work, and percussive attack."

- DownBeat

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 “Astounding rhythmic dexterity and unorthodox percussive technique... unusual time signatures and odd rhythms...Jack West never has to worry about being mistaken for another guitarist." 

- San Jose Mercury News

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"Obsessed with rhythm...[West] pushes his guitar techniques to the limit."

- Metro Santa Cruz  

"A restlessly creative musician...dazzling combination of bluesy

slide work, finger picking, and unorthodox percussive techniques."

- Jazz Perspectives, Reese Erlich

 

"This tune ["Something About the Dream"] is taking me to another place..."

- Chris Cortez, KCSM, Jazz 91.1 FM  

"Rooted in jazz and blues...it's also highly accessible...

extremely melodic and harmonically in..."

- Oakland Tribune  

"Curvature [is] a band with a distinctive sound that flows from it's

unusual instrumentation...[West has] managed to find musicians

endowed with a sense of syncopation as articulate as his own."

- Contra Costa Times  

"The full house at Yoshi's last Monday night [1/15/01] ventured

out to hear West's idiosyncratic approach to composition and

improvisation studious melodic and harmonic complexity,

bouyed by infectious rhythmic verve."

- Express  

"In simple words, it [Big Ideas] is a great album!"

- WartaJazz, Indonesia

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"Curvature explores an original, rhythmically astute amalgam of blues, jazz, funk, and folk. Although complex in terms of time signatures and improvisations, Curvature's music is immediately accessible, owing to West's beguiling melodic sensibility and his absorbing percussive attack."

- SF Bay Guardian

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"Organically induced homespun themes...subtle intimacy along with pumping beats and atmospheric propositions... enticing harmonic relationships... the guitarist makes every note count. The artist's memorable compositions and glimmering technique bespeaks a fertile imagination. Recommended!"

- All About Jazz