"A promising quartet that’s sidestepped the mainstream, Floriculture pulls off its new-jazz imporvisation and lyrical abstraction with panache."
"We’d heard plenty talk about how Carl Maguire was a name worth following among rising young jazzers; still, that didn’t quite prepare us for the way he basically recontextualized a Fender Rhodes… digging under its hood to pluck out shimmering, spacey chords and the like. Floriculture is where his pen comes into play as well."
"We’d heard plenty talk about how Carl Maguire was a name worth following among rising young jazzers; still, that didn’t quite prepare us for the way he basically recontextualized a Fender Rhodes… digging under its hood to pluck out shimmering, spacey chords and the like. Floriculture is where his pen comes into play as well."
"Pianist Carl Maguire’s debut solo release for the German ‘Between the Lines’ record titled ‘Floriculture’ was one of the true modern jazz surprises of 2006."
"The first delicate notes of Carl Maguire's piano in ‘Egocentric’ repeat odd phrases that move in and out of phase with each other, but when the rest of the band enters, powerfully amplifying and filling out the theme, you know that you are in for a trip. The piece sounds like Fieldwork's Simulated Progress in its density and power (but with a bass, of course) until Chris Mannigan enters on alto saxophone. Although it is hard to say whether the music is through-composed or improvised (or a mix of both), ‘Egocentric’ is a wonderful introduction to the talents of Maguire and his band, and its main theme infuses the rest of the album, creating a unified whole.(...)"
"(...) one helluva impressive performance. Carl Maguire's compositions... sounded highly original and were all viscerally involving. No head-solos-head here, but pieces that interspersed written and improvised passages in unexpected sequences, the themes bubbling to the surface at surprising intervals. Underneath it all, the writing had a strong melodic sense even at its most abstract, occasionally even settling into (brief) powerful grooves. Each of the group's members was outstanding... One of the most enjoyable jazz performances I've seen in quite a while. Check these guys out the next time they're around, dammit. Even you more mainstream folk; they're not really all that difficult.”
"A heterogeneous composition on Maguire’s piano opens up the tempo on ‘Egocentric,’ the first track of Floriculture. Then, a tandem between the piano and Trevor Dunn’s bass installs a complex virtuosity between both artists, scintillated by Dan Weiss’s cymbals to leave some space for Chris Mannigan’s nimbleness. You get caught immediately by the complicatedness of Maguire’s amazing compositions… In a way, Maguire’s virtuosity is a good example of temperance and it guarantees a purer and fuller pleasure. Floriculture is such a free pleasure, which makes enjoying it only better: because it also enjoys its own freedom!”
"Here’s a downtown jazz quartet that knows the patterns and traditions of the mainstream but has used it to create something quite different. Maguire’s compositions are complicated and dense, but not inaccessible. Reflecting grooves, minimalism and a strong sense of melody, this music demands repeated listenings… “These are exceptional players, but each man’s every note is at the service of making brilliant, involving music.”