"Araminta provides the kind of sustenance that your psyche and spirit have probably been craving." Read full review here: Stash Dauber
"Whether heard through headphones, or through speakers at wall-shaking volume, this is meditative and extremely beautiful music that sounds like nothing else out there." Read full review here: The Wire
New interview with Brandon Ross by Hot House Jazz Guide:
" In all honesty, I can’t recall being interested in emulating or finding myself influenced by any guitar players when I was learning to play. Blues and rock tropes can inundate budding guitarists and naturally, I picked up on those functional approaches. Beyond that, it was a kind of sound and a love of richly ambiguous, fertile harmony that called me to listen to and explore someone’s music. " Read the rest of the interview here: Hot House Jazz Guide
"... The acoustic duo of guitarist/ banjoist Brandon Ross and bass guitarist Stomu Takeishi, For Living Lovers is, as its name suggests, an intimate project. The conversations are quiet and deep. Not everything is said out loud, and there is mystery present; often, when you think you’ve got a hold on the music, it slips away from you. Like life and love, the world of For Living Lovers is never static. And even if they’re intertwined, two voices can never be the same...." Brad Farberman | Jazz Times
"Of the many CDs I have stockpiled in my basement, there are plenty that I consider to be masterpieces. One of them features both Brandon Ross and Stomu Takeishi, the two musicians who make up the acoustic duo For Living Lovers. But that masterpiece, Where’s Your Cup by Henry Threadgill and Make a Move, may not be an adequate springboard for some light listeners wanting to dive into Revealing Essence. With just Ross on acoustic guitars and sometimes banjo and Takeishi on acoustic bass, this is about as subtle as organic sounds can get..." John Garrat | Pop Matters
“Back in the late 1990s, Harriet Tubman caused a stir by ranging gracefully from tenderness to bombast, confounding ideas about form and structure, and suggesting several musical styles while adhering to none. Mr. Gibbs would issue throbs and bubbles of sound from his bass, then play delicate melodies. Mr. Lewis segued from loose-limbed swing to sledgehammer 4/4 without a hiccup. And Mr. Ross was a guitar antihero, unwilling to posture or play licks. A debut album, "I Am a Man" (Knitting Factory Records), earned glowing reviews. "Yet we've faced resistance from record labels and promoters ever since," Mr. Ross said. "The jazz folks think we're too rock. The rock guys think we're too jazz. Really, we're neither. People seem to need and want categories, but our experience is that when audiences hear what we do, they might not know what to call it but they connect with it. It's clear." Here is a trio headed somewhere exciting. "... a road to emancipation."” Larry Blumenfeld | Wall Street Journal
"...These are musicians so technically advanced, so experienced, that there is no barrier; a soundscape of original stories..." - Sue Edwards | The Jazz Shark
“HARRIET TUBMAN DOUBLE TRIO [BRANDON ROSS/MELVIN GIBBS/J T LEWIS + RON MILES/DJ LOGIC/DJ SINGE] - Ascension (Sunnyside 1274; USA) This fabulous disc was recorded live at the Knitting Factory in September of 2000. It has taken more than a decade to get this treasure released but damn, it was well worth the wait! most intense ... Best jazz/funk/rock power (double) trio of the year or perhaps decade!" – Bruce Lee Gallanter | Downtown Music Gallery
"Ross plumbs the depths of varying notes' potential size and shape, seeming to relish the relative roundness or sharp clarity of each sound as it travels through the body of his banjo... If there is an essence to be revealed here it is one of supreme balance." Jennifer Odell | Downbeat Magazine
“Brandon Ross has contributed greatly to the music of Henry Threadgill, Butch Morris, Cassandra Wilson and many others, but Costume (Intoxicate), his leader debut, offers a new and intimate view of his musicianship. Playing mainly acoustic guitar, Ross surrounds himself with acoustic-bass guitarist Stomu Takeishi and drummer J.T. Lewis, adding Graham Haynes' cornet, Gregoire Maret's harmonica, Shuni Tsou's dizi (Chinese flute) and Sadiq Bey's vocals along the way. "Another Approach" leads off, its calm 6/8 feel offset by Ross' twangy intensity. Ross plays two absorbing duets with Takeishi, "No Wonder" and "One Solar Year," and offers an astringent banjo take on Ornette Coleman's "Race Face." But Costume is more a panoply of textures than a virtuoso showcase. The three vocal numbers, "Peace Flows," "I Am the Light" (by the Reverend Gary Davis) and the traditional "Twelve Gates to the City," are accessible yet hauntingly unresolved. "Dry Lips" is an ocean of improvised space. " – David R. Adler | Jazz Times
"...HARRIET TUBMAN, AN OUTSTANDING POWER TRIO featuring THE REMARKABLY CREATIVE GUITAR HERO BRANDON ROSS, who combines the linear facility and originality of Joyous Lake-era Pat Martino with the sheer decibels and cathartic abandon of Sharrock and the liquid whammy-bar articulations of Allan Holdsworth. Ross unleashed fuzz-inflected, wah-fueled licks and testified with overdriven bluetones during this searing set, which concluded with a frantic jam that reached a Bad Brains level of intensity." Bill Milkowski | Jazz Times
"Ross is a one-man atmosphere factory, availing himself of all the sounds—cries, squeaks, cracks, fuzz, whispers, organ-like echoes—that an electric guitar, in the hands of a master, can produce." – Paris Review