Press

"Pianist and composer Neal Kirkwood reflects on his musical journey on his eighth recording as a bandleader, Night City, and his first big band album. The record embraces the history of big bands through their many manifestations, from the 1920s into today, within an atmosphere at once playful, urbane and exuberant."

— Matt Micucci, Jazziz Magazine (The Week In Jazz)

"There is an abundance for those listeners who choose to dive into the sounds of "Night City". Composer and arranger Neal Kirkwoodhas been working on these songs and arrangements for many years but the recorded results sound fresh and alive. The seductive arrangements, the intelligent melodies, the excellent solo work, all add up to a wonder-filled listening experience. Dig in!"

— Richard Kamins, Step Tempest

"Kirkwood displays much of the variety of texture, tempo, structure and expanse possible in this veteran musician's first big-band, 'Night City' (BJURecords). The new disc brings together compositions he's written for large ensembles over several decades. His sense of jazz history, with some evident roots in Duke Ellington and Gil Evans, is of a high order, as is his penchant for borderline 'classical' orchestration and tone poems such as 'The Light of Birds,' which concludes the disc."

— Jay Harvey Upstage

"Pianist-composer-arranger Neal Kirkwood is a musical impressionist in the tradition of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. Like the great impressionist painters, Kirkwood unearths colors and combinations that are strikingly fresh, revealing aural facets of the jazz orchestra often overlooked. . . . Night City is a triumphant and expansive big band album that treats the listener to a delightfully wide palette of orchestral tones and colors, all from a fairly standard big band lineup."

- George Kanzler, The New York City