| There are few trumpeters in downtown music who play with as much authority as Cuong Vu. His compositions…with their skillfully written sequential episodes through patches of wooliness and calm, are fast gaining pace with his strong tone and improvisational skill. |
| NY Times |
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| Trumpeter/composer Cuong Vu has rapidly become one of the rising stars or perhaps bright voices within the burgeoning and thoroughly adventurous New York City 'Downtown Scene' modern jazz circuit. |
| Allaboutjazz.com |
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| "Vu's imperturbable style, fractious now and then but in a controlled and calculated way, never histrionic or needlessly showy... an acoustic hall of mirrors." |
| The Wire |
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| Vu's playing encompasses both achingly beautiful melodies that sing like those of the Prince of Darkness... |
| Jazztimes |
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| "It's pure art. There's dark-darkness, joyful lament, quick-stepping spy funk...and everything about anguish and despair in flat, naked beauty...it will shake you." |
| LA Weekly |
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| "Cuong Vu is an important, intelligent, esoteric voice that will not be silenced by so-called purists or defenders of the status quo....It's been a long time since an album with that sort of creativity and uniqueness has hit the jazz scene." |
| Urban Ambiance Journal / Metro Connection |
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| It’s Mostly Residual is more about crafting haunting soundscapes than running scales...So it’s all right, then, that to me It’s Mostly Residual’s title track opens like a dawn-chorus invocation of a sun-and-surf summer’s day, or that “Brittle, Like Twigs” is reminiscent of an urban car chase in which every corner turned reveals a surprise, or that “Blur” appears to meld ambient drone-scapes with the kind of ever-rising melody that wouldn’t be out of place behind the closing scenes of a Hollywood epic. |
| Georgia Straight |
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| More press clips, quotes, and blurbs can be found on the Recordings page under each album. |
| Miscellaneous |
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| "It's hard to avoid references to Miles Davis when talking about the trumpet, but Cuong is the nearest thing I've heard to someone encapsulating and surpassing Davis' range of textures. Imagine, if you will, Bitches Brew or On The Corner, but with more cinematic clarity and less drug-addled wank. That's where Cuong Vu and his musical juggernaut are sitting, just waiting to crush you. And you'll love it." |
| Splendidezine.com |
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