Brett Sroka - Hearsay

"[Ergo] ...fully incorporates other-worldly aspects of electronica, with Crimsonesque washes and colors that almost put you in mind of King Crimson. The three-piece band sounds much bigger than it actually is."
- The Merrimack River Current

"Brett Sroka has found a way to turn the trombone into the coolest instrument since the bass clarinet."
- The Boston Globe

"A promising debut,Hearsay confirms that Sroka is more interested in charting new musical territory than simply revisiting the traditions of J.J. Johnson."
- JazzTimes

"Hearsay is an auspicious debut. With his arranging and compositional skills, and his trombone chops, comparisons to the late Trombone Master, J.J. Johnson are inevitable, and deserved."
- allaboutjazz.com

"The point of Hearsay, though, is the realization of Sroka's vision for creating scenes suggestive of various human emotions and experiences through music. And through the professionalism of equally educated and promising artists who share Sroka's vision and can help him bring it to life."
- JazzReview.com

"Inventiveness, in the true spirit of jazz, resonates loudly in his playing and arranging."
- The Gazette, Croton-on-Hudson, NY

"Musicians including jazz piano giant Jason Moran join young trombonist Brett Sroka onstage to celebrate the release of his debut CD Hearsay. In this new work, Sroka builds his compositional vision on a collective aesthetic that navigates between structured composition and improvisational freedom. Here's a great chance to check Sroka's dynamic and distinguished ideas in action, while catching a glimpse of the underground." (JM) - flavorpill.net

"On his upcoming debut (on Fresh Sound/New Talent and featuring Jason Moran), you can hear a bandleader who knows how to balance edgy writing with the "open sky" of jazz improvisation." - The Boston Phoenix

"This is one of the best prepared, most conceptually sound presentations that I have heard in some time. Great compositions and a solid group aesthetic. With Hearsay, Brett Sroka has captured the sound of now." - Greg Osby

"The real weight of the Hearsay performances is on Sroka compositions, which can be both propulsive and oblique. They can swing hard and allow maximum improvisation within a tightly controlled compositional framework; they show a depth of influences and a striking originality."
- The Merrimack River Current

"Fresh Sound's New Talent marque has managed on occasion to spring real surprises, and does so here again... It's as much in the measured attitude, the often polyphonic development of and reference back behind the soloists to the material, the sense of a small band rather than simply a combo. " - Jazz Review (UK)