I have known Jeff Denson for five years now, and had the great pleasure to perform and record with him throughout Europe, the USA and Canada as a member of my quartet. Jeff is an exceptional musician who is a creative force on the double bass and has an original approach and voice on the instrument. He brings a fantastic sense of composition to his improvisations that allow him to transcend the role of the bass and make many unexpected choices. From his hard driving quarter note swing, to cello-like bowed melodies and interactive counterpoint, he is always surprising and inspiring! Jeff is also an outstanding composer who has written music for jazz and classical ensembles. He is always thinking outside the box and bringing his musicality and lyricism to all of his work.
—Lee Konitz
Jeff Denson is a truly gifted musician and an accomplished improviser. Jeff possesses a unique set of abilities as a performer. He can improvise fluidly with originality in an open situation as well as negotiate the most complex harmonic and rhythmic musical systems in improvisation. It is a joy to play with him because his ear allows him to find freedom in the most challenging and demanding circumstances. He has studied music with intensity but he is always intuitive, creative without being didactic or controlling.
Jeff is an ambitious composer with great potential. I the past two years he has completed the first act of an opera, Webs and he has worked on a suite of solo bass pieces loosely based on Bach’s cello suites. Both projects demonstrate Jeff Denson’s potential as a composer of viscerally compelling as well as complex music. The opera incorporates improvisation in an effective way that succeeds in driving the narrative. The bass suites are technically extremely demanding and yet always succeed as music of rhythmic subtlety and harmonic adventure. The bass pieces will provide a new compelling literature for solo bass that will be performed by many bass players in the future.
—Anthony Davis
Read Three Brushes, One Stroke by Sean Powers for the "Vermont Standard," July 28, 2005.
"Jeff is a bassist who digs deeply into the philosophical principles that define what jazz is and can be. In addition to being a very thorough student of the history of his instrument, he is an accomplished composer, teacher, and arranger."
—Marcus Roberts (jazz pianist)
"Their music is fresh, spontaneous and challenging. I hold them and their music in a very high regard."
—(John Taylor - ECM recording artist www.johntaylorjazz.com on Minsarah)
"Florian Weber...His partners, bassist Jeff Denson and drummer Ziv Ravitz, he met in the USA. Since their introduction they have formed a trio where they play so well together it would seem that they trust each other blindly."
"...if you heard the 9 tracks from their CD, which is like a journey through the land of creativity, you would witness breath-taking technique, perfect timing, and great melodic richness."
Hans-Jurgen von Osterhausen, review of "Minsarah" in the German Jazz Magazine "Jazz Podium" (December, 2003)
"...Minsarah communicated with concentration and ease while maintaining powerful intensity. The trio has energy; nobody would doubt this!" ...
"As with 'Scar Tissue', written by Denson, an ingenious catwalk of mature playfulness fed from an unconsumed view of life of the three musicians who really have something to say."
"They understand each other as do the listeners. It can be said that they made a real statement, which could be described as the miracle of Cologne. We can state: that was music; the most beautiful compliment for a concert. ... Thank you Minsarah! Only this Friday night in the hall was the world at its best."
—Ingo Petz, Review of Minsarah's performance at The Cologne Jazz Night 2003 Jazz Festival.